NEWSLETTER

 

NEWS FROM PARENTI & ASSOCIATES


AUTUMN/WINTER 2023

One thing to describe 2023 is to expect the unexpected! The city came out of its COVID coma like a spinning top. Let’s briefly recap if you will. The Sphere finally opened with much fanfare but took a significant loss in the first quarter, and the CFO resigned. The Fontainebleau, 16 years in the making, is due to open in mid-December. Durango Stations is expected to open on December 5th with a slight setback from its November 20th planned opening, but nothing compared to the previous two mentioned above. What’s a few years and decades amongst friends?
Conventions not only came back to Las Vegas, but Formula One came racing into town like no other moment in time to create a ton of grief for transportation issues galore on the strip that will haunt us all for who knows how long. The Tropicana exit off I-15 is closed until 2025. Really? Flamingo is running a close second, with the F1 extravaganza shutting it down for a time.
That is while we are all battling high-interest rates for loans, a crazy economy, world issues with wars in other countries, and climate change. Yet, Las Vegas somehow survives the unexpected and surpasses all logic. Up next is the Super Bowl in February, right after the CES convention, and, of course, back to the humdrum construction of preparing for the following Formula One in November. Let’s not forget that the Oakland A’s just got the green light to begin their move to Las Vegas. We may never be able to drive down Tropicana near the strip again! We used to implode buildings in the 90s. Now, the new trend is to rip the heck out of our roads and highways all over the city and beyond. Like I said, expect the unexpected!

 

WHAT’S NEW

Here were some interesting takeaways from this year. The real estate for sampling on clients’ shelves is quickly diminishing. Material Bank is the new King of the World, and I’m happy that Momentum is a part of their program! Working remotely is here to stay, it appears. My associates and I have been thinking outside the box so far that we lost the box on how to create a way to help you move into this new realm of creating design spaces without missing a beat. It’s been interesting, to say the least. We are always looking for ways to improve our services for our customers. I would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions or thoughts.

 

ALL THAT JAZZ …

This year brought a ton of positive activity in the Chic Compass Magazine and the Forgotten Song Foundation world. We gave out $15K in scholarships and grants through FSF in January and are on target to give out $30K in 2024. We fabulously collaborated with the Las Vegas Design Center and Chic Compass on October 26th to celebrate National Women Owned Business Month and the 5th Anniversary of Chic Compass. The edition was entitled Women of Las Vegas – The Game Changers, with the name mirroring the event. Mayor Caroline Goodman honored us with a proclamation naming October 26th after our title of the event. We had more than 140 designers and additional guests attend that day while we interviewed four of the nine women featured on the magazine cover. FSF was the adopted foundation and received close to $11K in donations for the day. Thank you to all who attended, our sponsors, and the Las Vegas Design Center!

 

IN CLOSING

Thank you, thank you, thank you for ALL the 36 years of working with me and my vendors. I wish you a wonderful holiday season ahead. Let’s hope that 2024 will be a little less unpredictable! One can hope, anyway!