The Bonanza Gift Shop, which bills itself as "the world’s largest," might or might not be the biggest gift shop in the world, but at 40,000 square feet, it’s by far the biggest in Las Vegas and Nevada (and, some would argue, the best).
It was established in 1980 on the site of two former casinos, the Jackpot and Money Tree. When it was sold, it had been managed for a year by Haim Gabay, a gift-shop operator (downtown and on the Strip), as a tenant; Gabay bought the two-acre property in October for $50 million.
Reportedly, Gabay took out a $25 million bank loan and received $10 million in financing from the sellers, the investment firm Eastern Real Estate among them. It looks like he invested $15 million of his own money.
Gabay sold a .08-acre property at 24 Fremont Street in June 2016 to Derek Stevens, owner of the D and Golden Gate, for $13.5 million. (The property, which was G&G gift shop, sits between the old Mermaids casino and Girls of Glitter Gulch and completed Stevens’ acquisition of the entire city bock on Fremont between Main and 1st Street.)
So far, it appears that the Bonanza won’t be closing anytime soon. Gabay’s attorney said that his client would continue "to run the iconic gift shop for the foreseeable future."
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the real estate on the Las Vegas Strip is still a bit depressed when it comes to hotel-casinos. "Investors are largely ignoring its empty parcels and two megaresorts in the works, Resorts World Las Vegas and Alon, have shown little to no progress getting built, despite being on the drawing board for a few years."
By contrast, the retail and shopping sector is a hot market.
"Projects that opened in the past few years include The Linq, a $550 million open-air complex; Grand Bazaar Shops, a 2-acre outdoor plaza in front of Bally’s; and a three-story mall at Treasure Island. Also, this year alone, investors bought The Shops at Crystals for $1.1 billion; a 50 percent stake in Fashion Show for $1.25 billion; and the Miracle Mile Shops for what was said to be around $1.1 billion."
We can add the Bonanza Gift Shop to that impressive list.
