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A department store that has catered to Hispanic and Latino communities for decades in Southern California and Arizona is one step closer to opening the doors of its first store in Nevada.
Workers installed colorful signage Thursday to the exterior of the Meadows mall, where Curacao will replace the now-vacant 100,000-square-foot ground floor left empty in 2014 when Dillard’s vacated the first level and converted its second floor into a clearance center in 2014.
California-based Curacao sells electronics, appliances, furniture and home decor, among other items from popular brands including Apple and Michael Kors. It opens here Oct. 1.
Additionally, Curacao operates as a travel agency, offers financial services such as international money transfers, and has a program it says helps customers build and establish credit.
It ships purchases to Mexico and Central America, and recently expanded to ship to Germany, Spain, England, Taiwan and Korea, according to the Teylez Perez, Curacao vice president of marketing.
Although many feel Curacao is strictly for Hispanic shoppers, Perez says the store is for people of all backgrounds.
“Even though it’s in our DNA, I don’t think it’s fair to say because we’ve had so much transformation and we’ve seen so many more customers of different cultures and ethnicities,” Perez says. “I would describe it as a multicultural store that is inclusive,” he says.
Perez says they aren’t opening at the Meadows Mall simply because the demographic of shoppers is largely Hispanic, rather they wanted to open the store in a central area that people would not have to travel far to get to.
Christopher White, the mall’s general manager, says Curacao is a good fit for the mall and will help them better serve the Hispanic community.
“We’re finally addressing the need of how under served we are as a market with the Hispanic community,” White says. “It was overdue that we provided an outlet for those shoppers. Curacao filled that void.”
The store’s grand opening is at 9 a.m. Oct. 1 in the mall’s south parking lot. It will be hosted by television’s Mario Lopez. Officials say the event will include giveaways including a vehicle, televisions and refrigerators. The first 101 customers at the store will be able to purchase a $12 microwave, which usually retails about $30 to $40, Perez said.
Curacao officials said every 50th customer — no matter how the small the purchase made — will win a television.