Last week’s Deadmau5-headlined event in Commercial Center was touted as an effort on Clark County’s part to spur new interest in the struggling outdoor mall. While the county appears content with the results, some of the center’s small merchants insisted that intrusive event fencing, confusing logistics, and other factors actually hurt their businesses. The owners of Avantpop Bookstore felt compelled to run an online fundraiser to recoup their losses. I talked with Shwa Laytart, who co-owns the shop with his wife Sugar.
What was the upshot from the block party for your store?
We lost money. We had a total of five sales. (Organizers) had not only the fence, but we had ambulances and police cars all parked in front of our building. If there were people looking to walk around the fence to our shop, it was a little intimidating. So most people avoided us. (Organizers) built the fire-breathing octopus right in front of us, which caused a toxic smell from fumes of gas, so we had customers leaving. It affected us financially big time. That was what was most disappointing — the whole thing was supposed to bring business to us, and instead they threw a big party.
They're claiming they're going to do another one of these in August. Let's see how that turns out.
You had an online fundraiser and people responded — you met your goal.
We knew the whole time that we were here for the community and the community is here for us. And we're very thankful. It's definitely going to help. My wife and I have yet to take a paycheck; we're just barely scraping by. We used to have savings, you know. (Laughs.) But we still love working with our community. That's what we're here for, and we're just stoked that the community knows it.
What role do you want Avantpop to play in the city’s cultural scene?
For us, as a small publishing house as well, our goal is to help give voice to those who might not get a big book deal, or might not get their art in a gallery. There's some amazing talent in Las Vegas. And we want to help elevate that.
