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Casinos and restaurants will see their capacities bumped up to 50 percent of their occupancy levels on Monday, while another development could provide additional help: Customers may have more money in their pockets when they arrive.
A month ago, Gov. Steve Sisolak allowed capacity at businesses to increase from 25 percent of their buildings’ fire-code limits to 35 percent on March 1 and said that, barring any setbacks, it could rise to 50 percent effective March 15.
By happenstance, Congress narrowly approved and President Joe Biden signed into law a nearly $2 trillion stimulus package that will put an additional $1,400 in many Americans’ pockets in time for the higher capacity. Federal leaders said they expected the first stimulus checks would land in bank accounts over this past weekend.
That means restaurants, retailers and casinos could see more spending flowing through their cash registers when capacity broadens. It could also mean more visitors coming in from out of state and offer hope that things are going to get better for both consumers and business operators.
“The continued increase in capacity continues to show that Las Vegas is beginning to reopen,” said Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs for Global Market Advisors. “It is a welcome number that has not been seen since last fall when capacity was cut by 50 percent by the governor. The hope is that this trend continues by reopening the economy and should so that we can continue the recovery that was started last June.”
Restaurant boost
Restaurant operators will likely be positively affected the most.
Andy Hooper, owner of Locale Italian Kitchen and El Luchador Mexican Kitchen + Cantina in Mountain’s Edge, expects the boost to business to come more from the messaging than any increase in capacity.
“It won’t affect us as a whole for getting more people into the restaurant because of the distance rules,” Hooper says. “But it is a psychological thing. I think that people will feel more relaxed. I think that the times that we do have available for guests to come in to dine are going to be extended.”
Hooper was referring to the 6-foot social distancing rules that will still be in place despite the rise in capacity.
Amy Vandermark, marketing manager for the Remedy’s Tavern and Distill Bar chains, says that she and her team are “so excited” about the increase in capacity, which she expects will mean more people in their 11 valley locations.
“In the past few months, as capacity has gone from 25 percent to 35 percent, we did hit capacity, and we did have to tell (some) guests that we weren’t going to be able to welcome them in the building just yet. We did have wait lists.”
Vandermark believes that the increase in business will be “an opportunity to welcome back some team members and hire new individuals from the community.”
At Jing, in Downtown Summerlin, managing partner Roy Saunders expects the loosened restrictions to affect business in two ways.
Confidence booster
“The No. 1 thing that 50 percent does for us is the mentality,” says Saunders. “When the governor raised the capacity from 25 to 35 percent, we saw a huge increase in reservations. So I think what it does is it sends out a signal to the public that ‘Hey, it’s OK to start coming out to restaurants. So come on out and enjoy yourself, kind of like the old days.’ The second part for us is, yeah, 50 percent does mean a lot, because it gives us 15 percent more capacity.”
“Of course it’s awesome,” said Peggy Orth, general manager of the Peppermill on the Strip. “I want it to be 100 (percent), but it’s a huge, huge help. We’re getting a lot of people back full time. We’ve been really fortunate because the company has been taking care of insurance needs when we weren’t up to hours. And now we can take walk-ins and not just reservations; that’s a huge help.”
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