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Convention comeback bringing boost for nearby Las Vegas businesses

Business is booming near convention center
Convention comeback bringing boost for nearby Las Vegas businesses
Convention comeback bringing boost for nearby Las Vegas businesses
Convention comeback bringing boost for nearby Las Vegas businesses
Posted at 5:43 PM, Jun 09, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-09 23:45:20-04

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's day two of World of Concrete, the first major in-person trade show to return to Las Vegas. These types of trade shows stimulate the economy in many ways.

There are at least two dozen businesses located directly around the Las Vegas Convention Center. 13 Action News talked to two of them who say shows like World of Concrete are a big reason why business is back.

RELATED: Las Vegas Convention Center welcomes back World of Concrete trade show

Siegel's Bagelmania has been in business in Las Vegas since 1989, but their location on Convention Center Drive is brand new. It's only been open for two weeks, and business is already booming.

"The who’s who of Vegas has been coming every single day, tourists from the strip, obviously, this week, convention-goers from the World of Concrete have been coming, and it’s been great. Business is awesome," said Michael Crandall, Senior Vice President of "The Siegel Group."

A big reason for the boost in business is the return of conventions like World of Concrete. So far, Crandall says tourists account for about half his business.

"World of concrete coming back to Las Vegas is a signal of 'Vegas is back, baby!' And it’s not 50% back, it’s not 80% back, we’re 100% open, no restrictions," said Crandall.

With an estimated 60,000 trade show attendees in town this week, other businesses are benefiting too. At nearby Golden Steer Steakhouse, a longtime favorite for convention guests, business is all the way back.

"It is definitely back, for us at least. It is wild. We are so grateful and thankful that we've been able to combine both the locals and the conventioneers, especially this month. And it's wild to see the dining room completely filled. I don't think we expected it to be this fast. It feels a little bit like a switch just turned on one day and, all of a sudden, we were back to pre-pandemic levels," said Amanda Signorelli, Managing Partner at The Golden Steer Steakhouse.

During the pandemic, Signorelli says locals kept them alive, but conventioneers and trade show attendees are who are helping them thrive.

"The reality is, when conventioneers come in, they bring big groups. And for any restaurant, it's really important to get as many people as you can at tables. And having that group of people who are there, everybody tends to be wanting to celebrate a little bit more, which always means that they're even better customers when they're coming in. And it's really great to have the conventioneers because they also bring a lot of energy and a lot of interest. And then you have conventioneers who come in and, the next thing you know, they go back home and they say, 'Hey, there was this really great Vegas restaurant we went to.' So, it's an automatic referral system that gets built into it as well," said Signorelli.

The one common struggle expressed by both establishments is an ongoing worker shortage. Since the city started rolling back restrictions, they say it's been hard to hire enough workers to meet the demand, but they're grateful business is back.