Las Vegas Business Press
Friday, November 5, 2004

BY STEVEN MIHAILOVICH

BUSINESS PRESS

A mere one month after its grand opening as the first alternative restaurant and nightclub on the Strip catering to homosexuals as well as heterosexuals, Krave will host its first event targeting the local as well as the national lesbian market.

Organized in conjunction with the Los Angeles-based lesbian social club Girlbar, the group kicks off a monthly dinner and dance party this Saturday that is projected to draw 600-800 lesbians from around the country and place the club squarely on the travel circuit in that segment.

While cementing Krave's position as the only Strip club openly welcoming the lucrative gay segment, Girlbar is only the latest group to discover the city's booming tourism market is not only attractive but accommodating to anyone willing to pay for it.

"We are exploring the number one destination in the country," says Sandy Sachs, who owns Girlbar with partner Robin Gans. "It is for people who go to have a good time, not sightsee or see a dam, and where nobody bothers you."

Started 14 years ago, Girlbar has grown into one of the premiere lesbian social clubs in the country and has been featured in numerous national publications, such as Time, Marie Claire and even Sports Illustrated. The club holds regular events in Sachs' Los Angeles club, The Factory, as well as co-produces the largest lesbian social weekend in the world, the Dinah Shore Weekend in Palm Springs.

According to Sachs, members have been asking for new markets to bring their parties but Girlbar was hesitant about coming to Las Vegas even though it had been approached by a couple of venues, until the opening of Krave.

"It's the only alternative club on the Strip," Sachs says. "Rather than go to a straight club, we want to go to one that supports our community."

Spending "five figures," Girlbar has been promoting the initial event heavily nationwide through selected channels, including a 10,000-piece mailing, advertisements in Lesbian News magazine, e-mails and posting it on Girlbar's Web site, which receives up to a million hits monthly, while Krave is handling the local effort. While not disclosing the terms of the deal, Krave and Girlbar will share the proceeds.

Positive responses have come from as far away as Portland, Oregon and Phoenix. Sachs argues that the overall attraction of Sin City itself is as responsible as the event and added, as a club owner, that other markets could pick up a tip or two from Las Vegas' phenomenal success.

"Las Vegas is the only one making money," she says. "I recently spoke to a club owner in New Orleans who said that if they didn't own the building they'd be losing money. Five years ago, there was half a dozen clubs and it's just been building. What's going on in Las Vegas that the rest of us need to get lesson?"

While bringing a regional if not national crowd, Girlbar is hoping to tap the local lesbian market while simultaneously discovering it. "We don't have a huge idea on what the [lesbian] market in Las Vegas can bear," Sachs says. "Right now, you can't find them. They have nowhere to go. Where is the market? No one knows where they are because no one has done anything for them. I'm going to sit there and hold my breath and count people. Hopefully we'll start seeing what size it is."

The strength of the local component will determine whether the Las Vegas party becomes more frequent, although Sachs says Girlbar won't assess that possibility until it enters the high season, around February or March, noting that the lesbian segment, while profitable, is also "frugal."

"Krave would like us there more often but we have to get a feel on how often we can do that," she says. "There are people who come to the opening of an envelope but then you never see them again until the next opening ... We feel very confident that it will be successful. Beyond that, it will be nice to be in a place that if you want to get a drink after 1 a.m., you can have it. It will be fun to have a party in a place that is less inhibited."