Grand opening will promote club as upscale spot for gays to party
Since Share Nightclub and Ultra Lounge opened, Las Vegas’s first combination gay nightclub-strip club has attracted a steady locals clientele.
Now its management wants more.
Owners Michael Saltman, Thomas Brletic, Michael Crisp and David Saltman unveiled their 12,200-square-foot nightclub and first formal entry into the nightlife industry last November. The group is hosting an official grand opening celebration at 9 p.m. tonight , that Crisp and the club’s marketing agency, Lobeline Communications, say will introduce the club to a national audience.
“The locals know we’re here already, hopefully,” Crisp said. “It’s actually going incredibly well. We’re growing each week.”
Crisp wouldn’t release specific numbers, but he did say that Share’s business has been growing about 15 percent to 20 percent each week. Share employs 30 people, not including the 15 contract exotic dancers who perform on the second floor.
“I think people are finally finding us. I think that people are looking for another choice in the community and the marketing is paying off,” Crisp said.
The party also is meant to help secure Share’s brand as an upscale place to party for gays in Las Vegas, which has a relatively small gay nightclub scene of about 10 clubs. The venue offers bottle service, from $100 to $400 a bottle, and it’s also said to be the Sin City’s first gay nightclub to offer an upstairs adult cabaret.
Share’s building previously held the Discreet and Mynx gentlemen’s clubs, so it was already zoned and licensed as a strip club. Only the genders of the dancers have changed.
Saltman, owner of the Vista Group, a commercial real estate developer and manager, was the lender on the building and foreclosed when a borrower went into default.
“We had to make the best of a difficult situation,” said Crisp, the Vista Group’s chief financial officer. “Michael and Tom were really considering going into the gentlemen’s club business, but they decided there were too many already in the area.”
After surveying the city’s gay nightlife venues, the men decided the community needed a fresh face.
“We are having the time of our lives. It’s extremely exciting watching the growth and the response that we’re getting,” Crisp said.
However, the new club’s location at 4636 Wynn Road has been somewhat of a challenge for Share’s owners. Most of the popular gay clubs, such as Piranha or Gipsy, are near Paradise Road and Naples Drive.
“I think that people get stuck in what they do and they do what’s comfortable for them,” Crisp said. “We knew in the beginning we had work to do.”
Other gay nightlife operators say Share’s concept is working, but hasn’t detracted from their business.
“There are enough customers to go around, but I think the issue is trying to find the niche within the niche,” said Tyler Caiden, VIP services manager for Krave nightclub, a 7-year-old gay venue adjacent to the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort.
Caiden said Krave appeals to customers looking for a high-energy dance club that is filled with tourists. Seventy percent of the club’s clientele is from out of town.
“If you want to find somebody new to play with, you come to Krave,” Caiden said. “I think everybody else has got that boutique look and feel. I think they’re more the places to go see your friends and see who you know.”
Caiden said there’s been no change in Krave’s business since Share opened.
“In the past three years we’ve been on a steady upswing,” Caiden said.
Share’s grand party was timed for after the Grammy Awards, the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl, when there is a “lull” so that the club could maximize celebrity attendance and media coverage. Celebrities scheduled to attend the opening include Carson Kressley, Jai Rodriguez, Ronnie Kroell, Angel Porrino, and Penn and Teller.
Share also is helping to support the NOH8 Marriage Equality Campaign and Golden Rainbow during its grand opening party.
Contact reporter Laura Carroll at
lcarroll@reviewjournal.com
or 702-380-4588.
