Exiting Fashion Show - the NEW CTC

With a bit of fear, humility, and unbridled hope, I write this after an expedited exit from the Fashion Show Mall. 

To put it mildly, we could not come to terms with certain mall representatives. We hope to clarify this statement better with a video coming out shortly. 

Our team, led by Nick and Alex, has managed a monumental move: transitioning the "late" Fashion Show CQ location into our new Casino Training Center near Palace Station, just off the 15 highway and Sahara West off-ramp, approximately 1 mile west of the Las Vegas Blvd, central to both downtown and the strip. 

In 2019, we started our journey with the help of the mall's visionary GM, Brent. 

2 weeks ago, Brent and his Assistant GM quit the mall. Yikes. Insert anxiety here….

For the last year, we have been working with Brent and his team to create an experience at the mall's center. This “Common Area Experience” would move Casino Quest to a location that would parlay its successful 5 year record of customer engagement. Instead of the same boring help desk, imagine an interactive (non-gambling) table game experience that leans into all of its social features. Forget the random bench or massage chair, take a seat at one of our tables, and play for free coupons to shop at your favorite stores. Need another excuse to go to the mall? Casino Quest would have entertained the husband in your shopaholic diet. 

At first, we worked with the mall on a shared budget that would help us roll out a full-scale event venue, but that was nixed due to their budget issues. In the end, we agreed to foot all the costs with the understanding that the terms of our move would be favorable for at least the first 3 months as we navigated this new opportunity. We had planned for 3 phases: the first, a smaller, more cost-effective footprint, the 2nd, a technical upgrade that would include kiosks and more interactive displays, leading up to the the final phase, a grand rollout to a complete experience that we had hoped to attract several high profile vendors in the gaming space. 

Everything we knew to be true came undone in just a few days. 

When we learned that Brent had quit, we mourned. But we remained optimistic based on everything we had already laid out. With just days left to move, the excitement grew. Our team readied all the displays, prepared all the stanchions, and staged everything inside our old store, preparing for a smooth transition to the new space without losing a single day of reservations or retail sales. 

Then came an updated lease. It contained language not representative of the last year of negotiations and renderings, far from it. Instead of 4 to 5 gaming tables to host our appointments, we were permitted 1. Instead of a “pit” area placed in relative proximity to our kiosks, there was NONE. Nearly all of our identifying information was wrong, changed, or excluded. My name was misspelled, my phone numbers were bad, all of it. The rent was raised by over 20%, and the breakpoint, or point at which we shared revenue, was cut in half, almost guaranteeing that we would have difficulties breaking even. 

On a more contentious note, my contact email (in the Docusign) was given as “blacksheepdave@gmail.com.”  My name is Dave, but my email has never been that. At first, I did not think much about this addition, but my team and nearly everyone I have talked to have wondered about the professionalism.  I have no familiar relationship with anyone on the new Mall team. I am an only child of a tiny family. Today just my mother survives, and I can tell you I have never been referred to as a “black sheep,” However, given my story, this may have rung true in other families. 

And so, we moved out of the Mall. 

We left behind thousands of dollars in improvements. Rekeying their cabinets (since they lost the keys, apparently) cost us nearly $1400. $1300 in stanchions are now delegated to storage. We lost thousands of dollars spent on designers, software developers, kiosks, table improvements, gateways, insurance, point of sales, extra labor, and countless other things I can’t even remember. For the last year, we have paid hundreds of hours to a software developer to create a customer service APP for the guest services component of our kiosk. This was done for the benefit of the mall and to promote the narrative of our space. Today if you visit the mall there are no guest service kiosks. 

We now have to refund a sponsor who paid to be on our floor and countless appointments who paid for this location and may not be willing to move to our new location. 

We had invested in our future and did everything asked of us. 

This one hurt. 

Another lesson learned. Another way forward. 

First, I can’t express how much I love our team. Unfortunately, some of our team will have to find other jobs for now or supplement their hours somehow. We do not have many options. 

However, through it all, our team has been there, still hopeful, still energetic, and still excited about the future. 

Today, we chart a new future free from the reigns of corporate cogs hell-bent on short money that feed their commission sheets and who lack vision and the focus on relationships that have always been our team's hallmark. 

We invite you to visit our brand new Casino Training Center. Let me count the ways it will be a better experience;

1. Faster and cheaper to access! Our location at 3100 West Sahara Ave Suite 102 is strategically located between downtown and the strip, just off the Sahara West exit from the main 15 highway. We are easier and faster to get to by rideshare than almost any other location on the strip. AND no long ass walk from the front of the mall. Get dropped off, and you will be a few feet away from our hosts and tables. 

2. A private, comfortable setting. (With pictures to follow quickly) We have designed a space that draws on our five years of experience and feedback from our guests. There is lots of comfortable seating and stuff to read and do for those who are waiting or hanging out. 

3. Free, no-risk, unlimited credit slot machines. You can’t win anything and cannot risk anything, but you can enjoy an hour pretending to be a slot baller. Game King, Buffalos, and Video Poker are available for paid guests and their entourage. 

4. Free drinks! Your first drink is on us—no more high-priced mall drinks. 

5. Free Souvenir. Every guest gets a free CTC Lanyard or other gift. 

6. Free Strategy cards on each of the games you reserve. 

7. A collection of wall-mounted televisions to watch your favorite “youtube channels” wink, wink. 

8. Alex, David, and our whole team are now in one place. Before, we were all over the place, but now your chances to say hello and meet us personally are very high. 

9. There is big, Beautiful energy from our attached CEG Dealer School. The number one comment visitors to our new space have made is that the energy is so positive. Your patronage helps our efforts to train and place new casino dealers. You can see it, you can feel it, it's a wonderful thing. Those same dealers in training might be helping you as you are helping them. 

10. A new discounted retail experience to pick up your favorite gaming supplies, mats, and souvenirs.  

11. A new Members Only Lounge area featuring private tables, upgraded drinks (no alcohol), packaged snacks, and big-screen TVs. 

12. Flexible space for meetings and events. We have a ridiculous amount of tables, chairs, rolling TVs, buffet tables, and more than 10k square feet to accommodate groups from 2 to 200.