Fashion Show is a shopping mall located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It was developed by Summa Corporation and Ernest W. Hahn, the latter also serving as general contractor. The mall features Dick's Sporting Goods, Dillard's, Macy's, Macy's Men's Store, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Construction began on March 15, 1979, and the project was built at a cost of $74 million. Fashion Show Mall opened on February 14, 1981, becoming the first major shopping center on the Strip. It was also the third mall to open in the Las Vegas Valley. Its success prompted the construction of other retail centers on the Strip, including the Forum Shops.
The Rouse Company took over ownership in the 1990s and later conducted a $1 billion renovation and expansion, which lasted from 2000 to 2003. The project included new stores and restaurants, as well as a retractable runway for fashion shows. A plaza along the Strip was also added and includes the Cloud, a steel structure providing shade to pedestrians, while doubling as a nighttime projection surface for advertising. General Growth Properties (now Brookfield Properties) acquired the mall in 2004.
History
Summa Corporation announced Fashion Show Mall in July 1978, to be built on on the Las Vegas Strip, south of Summa's Frontier hotel-casino. It would be co-developed with Ernest W. Hahn, which would also serve as general contractor. It was designed by ArchiSystems, based in Van Nuys, California. The project had been planned for years. The Frontier's Little Church of the West occupied a portion of the future mall site, and was relocated elsewhere on the Strip. Groundbreaking took place on March 15, 1979.
Built at a cost of $74 million, Fashion Show Mall opened on February 14, 1981. It was the first major shopping center to open on the Strip, and the third to open in the Las Vegas Valley. Tourists were the primary demographic. The mall was 75-percent owned by Summa, while Hahn held the remaining ownership. The mall was successful, prompting the addition of other retail centers on the Strip, including the Forum Shops. A $10 million renovation was completed in 1993, after three years of planning and construction.
Summa later became the Howard Hughes Corporation, and was sold to The Rouse Company in 1996. A year later, Rouse announced plans to expand Fashion Show Mall, while new management began hosting events there to attract additional patrons. In 1998, Rouse purchased 15 acres of property just west of the mall, previously used by Mirage Resorts as an employee parking lot. Rouse bought out Hahn's ownership stake a month later.
In May 2000, work began on an expansion and remodel, a project that tenants felt was overdue. A new west wing, the first phase of the $1 billion expansion project, opened on November 1, 2002. It introduced a retractable runway and stage used for fashion shows. The space has also been used to put on Christmas shows.
The existing east wing debuted on October 1, 2003, following renovations. The expansion and renovation helped the mall compete against newer retail centers on the Strip, such as the Forum Shops and the Grand Canal Shoppes, both of which were also in the process of expansion. General Growth Properties (now Brookfield Properties) acquired the mall in 2004, when it purchased Rouse.
Various incidents have occurred at the mall, including an unsuccessful bomb threat in 1983, and a jewelry store heist in 1999. Several shootings have occurred, including one at the food court in 2014. Another shooting in 2019 prompted the evacuation of the mall. In 2022, a woman was shot and killed in the mall's parking garage during an attempted robbery.
In 2014, the mall was used to film the interior shots of the fictitious West Orange Pavilion Mall for the opening sequence of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.
Features
Stores
Fashion Show Mall opened with . Anchor tenants occupied , and included Bullock's, Diamond's, Goldwater's, Neiman-Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The latter two introduced luxury designer brands to Las Vegas. Aside from anchors, the mall had 130 tenant spaces, and opened with 87 stores. Diamond's was converted to a Dillard's store in 1984. The first Bullock's Woman store opened at Fashion Show Mall in 1987. Goldwater's became a May Company store in 1989 and then a Robinsons-May in 1993, while Bullock's was converted to a Macy's in 1996.