The Linq Is More About The Parts Than The Whole

We meh'd about cupcakes, booze and bowling when The Linq announced their lineup of retail outlets but, all sarcasm aside, who meh's at booze and sweets? Not this guy! In fact, you show me a cupcake and a tall glass of�Delirium Tremens for under $10 and you'll see a guy that's wired, buzzed and ready to roll!

Caesars Entertainment is a landlord for The Linq. They're selling the idea of The Linq and less interested in selling their�tenants. That's the shame of the recent Linq announcement. It seems as if Caesars is more concerned setting up the ability to sell�t-shirts for The Linq and not building as much�excitement�for their tenants.

Caesars could have released information that Brooklyn Bowl was opening to a music blog like Brooklyn Vegan�or Pitchfork. Instead the information was released to local press who had to do some digging to discover just what to expect. The ho-hum response to bowling on The Strip is understood, but promoting a concert venue with good food, drink and bowling isn't nearly as lame.

This beer drinker wants to know if Brooklyn Bowl will bring their�neighbors,�Brooklyn Brewery, west or if they will use local brewer, like Tenaya Creek, as its fresh brew. The real test with Brooklyn Bowl will be if they can bring good music to Las Vegas.

The same could be said for releasing news of Sprinkles Cupcakes. Sprinkles coming to Las Vegas three years ago may have been cool, but now it's just another post-hipster-now-way-too-mainstream bakery that even Honey Boo Boo enjoys. So, what if it's not cutting edge? It's a cupcake joint! Besides, Caesars' customer base is 50+ years old�and�they don't need new and cutting edge. Sprinkles is probably new to them. Sugar Factory isn't exactly cutting edge for sweets, but it's locations are always crowded.

Taking a look at The Linq from another way, one can say that Caesars is actually creating a retail area on The Strip that suits their clientele perfectly.

Yard House really sums up the potential for The Linq being awesome, yet unspectacular. What beer drinker is going to complain about a new bar/restaurant coming to The Strip with a couple hundred beers on tap? None. Especially one that has multiple happy hours per day. Sure, Yard House is a chain and the mediocre mall food isn't anything special, but there's nothing bad there. The two other Las Vegas locations are always crowded and isn't that what Caesars wants?

It is possible to spin a positive for almost every retailer coming to The Linq -- even F.A.M.E. which has the most lame K-Pop video to promote their inclusion in The Linq.�Rather than look at The Linq as boring, this writer would rather look at the good he'll get from The Linq. Ultimately, we have no say in the�tenants�until The Linq is open. If it's meh, we can take our dollars elsewhere.

Photos: Just Jared, Tom Bedel, Greg Aiello on�Facebook

Comments (4)

Return to » The Linq Is More About The Parts Than The Whole

My big irritation with the Linq is that they have, since day one, made such a big hoopla about what age demographic they are targeting --

"...The LINQ that will appeal to the region's growing Gen X and Gen Y (ages 21-46) clientele."

And, yet, besides Brooklyn Bowl, I'm not seeing anything here that would standout enough to draw a "slightly younger" (their term) crowd away from, say, The Cosmo or the coming Delano.

I agree that it's definitely a case of not promoting itself well enough. I don't care about what age you're going after, I care about what you're trying to sell me. Perception, as they say, is king and even national news outlets are underwhelmed at this point when they should be overly ecstatic.

Even though I've seen it numerous times, I just noticed that the rendering shows a pretty serious change to the facade of Margaritaville. Something I don't see happening.

The FAME concept looks interesting as I'm a fan of open-air dining. But if that is going to be part of an ongoing flash mob with dance music, I'm just a little out of that demographic. (The thump-thump music is fine when I'm drinking, but not when I'm eating).

The bigger challenge may be that Linq gets flooded with CET's "average" (read: older) customer, their regular customer base. Which could make it less likely hipsters would hang out there as they might feel like they are partying with their parents.

I also realized something that may not be in the High Roller's favor: The London Eye stands alone and looks HUGE. Sky Vue will have some of the same advantage with its location. However, High Roller kind of sits comparable to it's neighbors in scope. (Venetian/Palazzo comes in at around 440 feet, High Roller at 550). That may lessen the impact.

Fortunately, they have a year to get their marketing plan together and really hit their target audience (whatever it may end up being) right between the eyes.

Can I have those 2 minutes of my life back??? I cant explain why I watched that to the end..all I can think of is it was like a car wreck too terrible to look away....

Overall no matter what they do in the lead up to the linq its failure or success will be dictated by execution once its up and running...however if its anything like how its been executed so far...might not be good

That's why I only linked (linqed?) it. Haha.

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