Taking home treasures

Wander through the homelike setting of LVNV the Home Store at the Wynn Las Vegas resort, see icons of the five-star resort hotel available for purchase and expect to find a treasure affordable enough to take home.

Those shopper impressions are key to the strategy of Frank Schipano, senior retail buyer, who brought along his experience as a home shopping channel's director of product development for home when the retail shop opened along with the hotel in April 2005.

While shoppers can envision how the eclectic mix of merchandise would look in their own homes, the store also draws visitors that most homeowners only dream of hosting.

"Everybody who's anybody has been through the store," Schipano said. "Oprah was just here yesterday. Martha Stewart has been here. We get so many positive comments and letters. It's just very gratifying that people like what I do."

His customers include guests in the hotel's 2,700 rooms, walk-ins off the street and Las Vegas residents. "I don't try to capture any one of the above," Schipano said. "I simply present merchandise I think is tasteful, that one would love in their home regardless of what their income level is. For the year that we've been open, I've managed to pull that off and my plan was doubled from what it was originally supposed to be."

The Home Store is well named because of its inviting layout, designed like a cozy home. Merchandised by rooms, it includes a foyer, living room, dining room, front porch and outdoor terrace filled with an eclectic mix of product that ranges in price point from $10 to $25,000.

"My customers, which are predominantly women, absolutely love it because they feel comfortable in that environment and they can picture the merchandise in their own homes because of the way we set it," Schipano said. "So if you're in the living room and you buy any of the accessories, you can picture what it's going to look like in your own living room."

Secondly, the store incorporates plenty of icons from the hotel. "If you go into the bedroom, you basically are experiencing one of the rooms that you stay in as a guest," he said. "So if you love the Heavenly Mattress or if you love the sheets or the towels, you can purchase them in that room of my store."

Schipano also has developed products based on other icons of the hotel, such as the parasols found on fixture lighting. The merchandise with parasols on it include "ornaments, throws and some beautiful porcelain by Bernardaud — very tasteful things, not your typical shot glass and mug souvenir from Las Vegas," he said. "You bring back these wonderful purchases with you, but you're also bringing back a piece of Wynn Las Vegas with you."

Rather than grouping products by vendor or brand, the store takes cues from various trends then mixes selections into its homelike, eclectic setting.

"As you walk through, you'll find little treasures and say 'This is perfect for where I want to put this,'" Schipano said. "It's very hands on, not behind glass and not in a case, except some of the super high-end I have, the Steuben glass and Daum crystal."

Art glass is the store's best-selling home accent category, followed by tabletop. "We do a nice job with candles, too," Schipano said. "We have them made especially for us. We have our own home scent, our own infusers. It's quite different."

The homelike setting, the Wynn icons and the wide range of price points add up to Schipano's three-pronged strategy for success. He wanted to set the store apart from other Las Vegas hotel stores, whether stocked with museum-quality pieces or tchotchkes.

"Everybody can afford to buy something in my store so they leave the Wynn with a very positive experience," he said. "They can enjoy the hotel, the grounds and everything about it without actually having stayed here."