In Business Las Vegas, December 1st, 2006
For the past three years, Bogar Enterprises has been known for one thing and one thing only: The Sign.
The creators of the famous Fabulous Las Vegas replica sign, one of the most popular novelty items in Sin City, are branching out in a big way, hoping their next phase of novelty Las Vegas items will take the city by storm.
“We’re clearly going horizontal in our product development,” said Bogar vice president Robin Roberts. “Being voted best souvenir is great but when you’re running a business, having more product to sell clearly brings up sales. It’s also about creating new items – things that have never been done before.”
Following the astonishing success of its desktop-sized “Welcome to Las Vegas” signs, Bogar is moving forward, rolling out a whole new line of Las Vegas products including the long-awaited Fabulous Las Vegas night light and a version of the sign that plays Elvis Presley’s famous rendition of “Viva Las Vegas.” Also rolling onto shelves around the city are a slew of high-end crystal paperweights modeled after the current Strip skyline.
Due out early next year is a replica of the neon Elvis sign featured during his 1968 Las Vegas comeback special (it plays “Don’t be Cruel”) and a line of naughty Las Vegas-themed T-shirts featuring showgirls, strippers and other fleshy attractions.
Bogar is attempting to capture more market share in the novelty or tourist item trade before other companies can create and profit off of similar products. After the release of the first replica sign, the company had offers from other cities with well-branded attractions to create replicas, but the company wants to fully capture the hometown market before considering creating products for other cities.
“When we first launched the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign, we had people come to us from everywhere, they wanted us to do the St. Louis Arch, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge. But we wanted to cash in this business first,” Roberts said. “We’re very Las Vegascentric here. It’s still a small town in some ways. You get to meet the mayor and the prominent people in town. You can just send them things. We can’t do that with New York.”
And there is still much to do here. The company has sold thousands of the original replica signs, mostly catering to conventions and gift shops. Their products are available at every major shop on the strip, in the airport, Walgreens stores around the city and nationwide through Fry’s Electronics. They are popular as gifts to high rollers, out-of-state clients and as Christmas presents. Their sign replicas retail for between $10 and $50, depending on the product and where it is sold. Bogar earned about $2 million in revenue from such sales last year and with the launch of the new products, Bogart expects to at least double that number in 2007, Roberts said.
She has no doubt the new signs will be a hit.
“The true key to our sales is the lights,” she said. “When they see the signs lit up and blinking, we have a sale.”
Stephanie Tavares covers small business and law for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4059 or by email at stephanie.tavares@lasvegassun.com.
