We don't, although we were credited by R-J entertainment columnist John Katsilometes for first reporting the most recent casualties at Pawn Plaza (thanks to a tip from one of our @LVA_Tweet followers), with the closing last week of Inna Gadda di Pizza and Pawn Donut & Coffee. The ball then bounced right back into Kats' court when, a couple of days later, he ventured downtown to survey the lay of the land in person and confirmed the list of recently closed businesses, among them Pawn Coffee & Donut; Vegas Flip Flops; Smoke's Poutinerie; and Inna Gadda di Pizza. The latter two had both been something of Pawn Plaza "flagships," leaving only Rick's Rollin' Smoke Barbecue & Tavern to carry the torch, while other tenants still in situ include: Rockabilly Girl; Body Spa; Rita's Italian Ice; So-Cal Speed Shop; and Pawn Plaza Vow Renewal & Weddings.
So, with less than a year under its belt following last October's debut, what went wrong -- if anything -- at Pawn Plaza? Gold & Silver Pawn owner, TV celebrity, and occasional bartender Rick Harrison will tell you nothing, and that the failure of some ventures is simply an inevitable fact of life. "When times are good, you advertise; when times are bad, you must advertise," he told the Eater Vegas blog in an exclusive interview. When a disgruntled but anonymous tenant vented to local news media about issues with the building itself, and about Harrison not fulfilling his part of the contract, the pawnbroker vehemently refuted the accusations, some of which have already been proven to be unfounded. "I dare you to find one problem with the building. I could have spent $50,000 less on the elevator. I didn't. Forty thousand dollars less on the plumbing. I didn't. We have a full-time maintenance person at the pawn shop and the shopping center, and anything can be fixed within an hour," said Harrison.
Making the point that, as a landlord, it's in his interests for his tenants to be successful, Harrison estimates that to date he's spent between $50,000 and $70,000 marketing Pawn Plaza, via charitable events, meet-and-greets, billboard advertisements, and other PR initiatives and promos. They say there's no such thing as bad publicity, and Chumlee even inadvertently provided an abundance on a national level, thanks to his arrest.
Still, even some of the remaining tenants are finding the going tough. "We thought we would take advantage of the vow renewal business. It hasn’t taken off like we thought," says Pawn Plaza Vow Renewals by Vegas Weddings founder Cliff Evarts, who's now working on a whole new concept for his space, selling snacks like popcorn and gummy bears, he told "Eater".
From his vantage point of a bar stool in Rick's Rollin' Smoke, Kats announced "we have an early verdict, and it's that a poutine eatery next to a Vegas pawn shop is not quite a lead-pipe cinch." (We'd question whether there is any good spot for a restaurant whose signature dish, and the entire focus of its menu, is french fries fries smothered in gravy and curds, but the current writer confesses to never having tried poutine and is basing her instinctive aversion on a seemingly comparable experience with contemporary Scotland's signature dish, namely "chips & curry sauce," which may or may not be a fair comparison. (See photo gallery below and judge for yourself.)
Of course, one of the biggest draws for Pawn Plaza, which is located adjacent to Gold & Silver Pawn (144 feet, or a one-minute walk away, according to Google Maps), is the owner. As Johnny Kats observed, "Crucial to the marketing draw of Pawn Plaza is Harrison’s role as bartender at Rollin' Smoke Tavern on select weekends. At least one tenant has complained that Harrison has not followed through on some announced appearances, but his camp reminds that he does appear to sling drinks (and, likely, offer relationship advice) when he is in Vegas. A delayed flight for weather wiped out one announced appearance, but Harrison is back behind the bar this Friday and Saturday night starting at 8 p.m."
Of course, that doesn't do much to help any struggling outlet in Pawn Plaza that operates during regular retail hours, and it's been at least five months since any updates were made to the Facebook photo album where Rick Hangs with the Tenants of Pawn Plaza. We'd question if the hordes -- and sometimes visitors number in the thousands per day -- who line up to check out the famous pawn shop and, if they're lucky, get to glimpse one of the "Pawn Stars" stars, are interested in hanging around in the same 'hood afterwards. While there's a captive market as people willingly line up on the street, waiting their turn to get inside, history has demonstrated that it's going to take more than the allure of flip flops, coffee, and fast food to entice the average visitor to linger -- and spend. (If we were the landlord, we'd be looking for tenants whose businesses were also unique "destination" draws that somehow complemented/resonated with the main attraction, i.e., Gold & Silver Pawn: retro/vintage stores, of which Vegas has a good selection, some of which are in less-than-ideal locations; Pinball Hall of Fame/InsertCoin-type venues, etc., etc. But what do we know?)
As an example of what feels like a total mismatch, in the course of researching this answer we visited the official Pawn Plaza website to double-check on the current tenant roster. It hasn't yet been updated to reflect last week's exodus, but when we clicked on the link for BodySpa, which has seven additional area locations and an eighth on the way, but has been notably absent from any recent press coverage of Pawn Plaza, we were greeted with a pop-up ad informing us that the entire 3,000-square-foot space is available for $3,000 a month for anyone who'll take it over. That doesn't bode well, but hardly surprises us: Sure, we can see a nightspot like the tavern being a logical fit (Gold & Silver Pawn is open 24/7, after all); but Pawn Plaza is going to succeed or fail on tourist dollars, and what type of visitor would associate/combine a gawking trip to a celebrity pawn broker -- in a less-than-salubrious neighborhood, to boot -- with a manicure or acupuncture session?
In his chat with "Eater," Rick Harrison indicated that he has several potential new tenants, but intends to do some "extreme vetting"; those potential new tenants, whoever they may be, would be be well-advised to do the same and to heed the lessons to be learned from those who went before them...and failed.
