Until the early 1980s, when the Fashion Show Mall (3200 Las Vegas Boulevard South, NV 89109, +17023698382, www.thefashionshow.com) introduced the city to department store powerhouses Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, shopping choices were limited to hotel boutiques or run-of-the-mill shopping malls.

The early success of the Fashion Show cleared the way for Caesars Palace to open its now phenomenally successful Forum Shops (Caesars Palace, 3500 Las Vegas Boulevard South, NV 89109, +17028934800, www.parkplace.com). Nowadays, up and down the Strip, you’ll find everything from top-class designer boutiques like Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Gucci and Prada to lesser known shops such as Aveda, Bebe, Max Studio and Z Gallerie. The interesting independent stores that make a trip away from the Strip worthwhile are harder to locate. Look closer and you’ll find kooky clothes shops, ethnic grocery stores, well-equipped outdoors shops and esoteric bookshops, not to mention places selling Vegas collectibles. But for classier shopping, it’s best to stick with the casino malls.

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