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Las Vegas Businesses Feel War's Sting

LAS VEGAS -- Recent troop deployments have hurt sales at many small businesses situated near Nellis Air Force Base, business owners say.

So far, more than 1,000 personnel based at Nellis have been sent to the Middle East to take part in the United States' military campaign against Iraq. Their absence has been significant for business owners like Fred Skivers, who for the past 17 years has served military clients and their families at Fred's Barbershop.

Skivers' business at 4955 E. Craig Road is located just west of the base perimeter and across the street from a military housing development. The shop's walls are lined with military emblems and insignias, and Skivers estimates about 40 percent of his clients are stationed at the base.

"As soon as they ship out, we realize it," said Skivers, whose customer traffic began a steady dip about three months ago as the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf intensified.

Though he misses their business, Skivers said he's accustomed to losing regular clients when the military is pressed into action.

"If you're around a base, this is par for the course," Skivers said. "I'm just happy I'm not across the street from a place like Fort Campbell. They've got entire divisions away."

Kentucky's Fort Campbell is home for the Army's 101st Airborne Division, whose troops are playing a major role in the invasion of Iraq.

Located across the street from Nellis at 4375 Las Vegas Blvd. North, Jet Cleaners gets about half of its business from military personnel, said Waris Mujtaba, store manager. Though its racks were lined Friday afternoon with newly pressed uniforms and others awaiting tailoring, Mujtaba said activity in his store is down 10 percent to 20 percent in recent weeks.

A few doors away, the deployment has also hurt sales at the Italian Delights Pizzeria.

"It's been slow, and it's like this for all of the businesses around here," said owner Tony Barlie.

Not so, countered Carlos Silva, director of operations at nearby Memphis Championship Barbecue. The restaurant was jammed with its normal lunchtime crowd Friday, and Silva said the only noticeable sales dip came when Nellis' Red Flag war games were scaled back because of the war.

"It's almost like if the NASCAR race were canceled because of bad weather," Silva said, comparing Red Flag with a popular stock car race held March 2 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "We didn't get as many people as we would during a special event, but that doesn't mean we're missing our normal customers."

Lt. Matthew Fuller, a spokesman with Nellis' public affairs office, said the Red Flag operation scheduled to begin March 17 was canceled because of worldwide troop deployments. About 600 military personnel have come to Nellis for Red Flag-related training, a fraction of the 3,000 personnel who would normally take part in the quarterly war games event.

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