70% off? It's a deal, baby

Las Vegas

ALONG with the other superlatives about Vegas -- it's the world's fastest growing city, the world's best dining city, the city with the world's most hotel rooms -- you can now add this: It also may be the best shopping city on the planet.

It's the only spot in the U.S. besides New York to have Manolo Blahnik, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix stores. The trendy Scoop boutique hasn't made it to L.A. yet, but there's one at Caesars Forum Shops, which also has Kate Spade and Emilio Pucci stores that we don't have here.

Vegas is one of the best places to find a bathing suit (I recommend the Wynn's Mojitos store or the Bellagio's Capri), a pair of blingy sandals or a $27,000 evening gown. The Fashion Show Mall has 2 million square feet of shopping, daily fashion shows and six department stores under one roof.

Because Las Vegas turns over 1 million new potential customers every week, the stores are incredibly well stocked, and not just with sizes 2 and 4, but often up to 14, 16 and 18. Service is the antithesis of snooty. And where else can you wander into a shop sipping a yard of margarita?

And we haven't even mentioned the crazy sales. There's the story of the public relations assistant who snagged four pairs of Marc Jacobs shoes at the designer's store at the Forum shops for $99 each, and the editor who found this season's must-have YSL "Downtown" tote half-off at the Bellagio's boutique.

Shopping in Vegas is great year-round, but there is a cycle to it. In mid-September and mid-March you will find the best selection of new season merchandise. There are sales every quarter, but twice a year -- mid-July to the end of August and mid-December to the end of February -- you will find the mother lode.

Every casino on the Strip has glittering designer stores but you really need to go only to the Wynn, the Bellagio, Caesars Forum Shops and the Fashion Show Mall for the best of it.

During the third week of July, I hit town on the first day of the 70%-off sales at the Wynn. Along the shopping Esplanade, multi-label designer boutique Outfit had racks and racks of Proenza Schouler, Stella McCartney and Matthew Williamson. There was the Temperley black floral dress I was eyeing all summer marked $275 from $875.

Outfit is a great store even when there's not a sale -- with exclusives from designers such as Monique Lhuillier and Sophia Kokosalaki. The store recently bought a $27,000 Nina Ricci dress. "We have a customer who can handle that," says Todd Hanshaw, the resort's retail buyer.