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War Boosts Off-Strip Sales

LAS VEGAS --Some off-Strip bar and restaurant managers said Wednesday evening's start of the war was good for business, while the beginning of hostilities had no apparent effect on Strip casino operations.

While many Las Vegans watched televised news accounts from the Middle East, most Strip tourists said they were unaware that President Bush had announced the war's start during a televised speech from the Oval Office.

Half an hour after Bush's remarks, dozens of college logo-wearing fans in town for the beginning of March Madness were focused on a range of basketball games displayed on Luxor's television monitors.

None of the monitors showed war coverage.

A group of four Southern California women was getting ready to leave Luxor and go dancing at some other Strip-area clubs about an hour after Bush's televised comments.

One, Ernestina Garcia, a saleswoman from Pasadena, Calif., said she had no interest in watching televised news accounts.

"I don't watch the news at home and I'm sure not going to watch it when I'm in Vegas," Garcia said.

Tourist indifference seemed to be good for hotel occupancy, as the major Strip operators all said they had no change in room reservation patterns or cancellations.

Operators said Wednesday night they're waiting to see how the conflict will affect their businesses before making decisions on operations layoffs.

Some off-Strip businesses didn't need to wait to know that the war was boosting sales.

Rick Bowersox, a manager at the Papa John's Pizza on Craig Road and Decatur Boulevard, said orders doubled Wednesday.

"Oh my God," he said. "It's been so busy I can't even break away from the phone. This was not a typical Wednesday."

Bowersox said he expected the jump. He said after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, people wanted to stay home and watch the news; they didn't want to cook and wanted someone to bring dinner.

"I know I'd like to be at home with my family now, explaining what's going on to my children," Bowersox said. "It's a sad way for business to increase. I wish it were because of the Olympics or the World Cup soccer tournament instead."

Lou Brooks, a manager at the Metro Pizza at East Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway, said his business was busy already Wednesday night, not so much from the conflict as from the nearby University of Nevada, Las Vegas men's basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center and a special. But he expects business to increase in the coming days.

"I anticipate ordering will pick up," Brooks said. "I think people will be staying home and watching the events on TV. I know that's what I did during the last Gulf War."

Myron Freund, who owns the Brass Rail Saloon, 1000 N. Nellis Blvd., said his bar seemed more crowded Wednesday than it's been in previous nights. More people had come in to see news footage on television, he said, wanting to see and learn all they could about the conflict.

"I think people want to be together when stuff like this happens," Freund said. "They want to be around other people rather than watching it at home alone."

News of the war was on television at Pogo's Tavern on north Decatur Boulevard for about an hour and a half after Bush's address to the nation, but bartender Mary Whitefield switched to a hockey game when the news became repetitive.

Everyone wanted to have it on television, then it was the same thing over and over, like listening to the sports show on the radio after a game," Whitefield said.

Frank Comparoni, a 30-year regular customer at Pogo's, watched the news at his daughter's home, then went to the bar for a drink and a few hands of video poker.

"He did the right thing," Comparoni said of Bush's decision to wage war on Iraq. "You can only give a guy (Saddam Hussein) so much time. It's been 12 years. What more do you want?"

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