Here's one of those questions that we figured would be a piece of cake to answer, but then turned out to have us scratching our heads.
What we -- including Anthony Curtis, who moved here in 1979 -- did not know, prior receiving your question, was that Fashion Show Mall actually opened way back in February, 1981, in a much smaller incarnation than we know today. Here's a photo from the early '80s we found on Flikr that gives an impression.
It seemed to have opened with little fanfare -- A.C. doesn't recall anything about it and we could find no trace in the local press nor any any "Strip Timeline" highlighting significant dates in history. As far as we can tell -- and if anyone out there knows better, please correct us if we're wrong -- it seems that there was absolutely nothing on the plot of land at 3200 Las Vegas Boulevard South, prior to the Rouse Company building Fashion Show Mall, which debuted with Dillard's, Bullock's, Goldwaters, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue as tenants. The mall's nearest neighbor was the Frontier casino, which occupied that same block between Desert Inn and Spring Mountain Road.
A major expansion took place in 2002-2003, which included the addition of the entire west end, an expansion of the east end, and the addition of "The Cloud," (that massive canopy thing that "floats" above the mall and which we've never quite understood, not least becaue it looks nothing like a cloud, but we digress...) Many of the anchor tenants, including Neiman, Saks, and Robinson-May all increased their square footage, too, and new retail tenants moved in.
In 2004, Rouse was bought General Growth Properties (GGP) in what was the largest retail real estate merger in American history and made GGP the nation's second-largest mall operator. Today, Fashion Show Mall is one one the largest indoor retail facilities in the world, having grown to occupy 1,888,151 sq ft of space. It's home to more than 250 stores, including seven anchors.
