Las Vegas is the ultimate destination for gamblers, show-goers and fashionistas. But now, chocoholics can be added to the mix because The Hershey Company recently unveiled a new experience store at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino.
“We have been searching for the right opportunity to bring the excitement and imagination of a Hershey’s Chocolate World experience and after much deliberation and searching for the right partners, Las Vegas was selected,” said Lael Hunt, Director of U.S. Retail at The Hershey Company, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints.“We believe our new West Coast flagship store is a perfect meeting of American icons: Hershey’s brands, the famed Las Vegas Strip and the re-creation of the New York City skyline that is New York-New York.”
The Hershey’s Chocolate World flagship was developed in partnership with Chocolate Experiences, Inc., which is helping expand Hershey’s Chocolate World attractions worldwide, including in Chicago, China, Dubai, Niagara Falls Singapore and Times Square.
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The store features two floors of more than 800 candy and chocolate offerings from brands including Hershey’s, Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s, Ice Breakers, Jolly Ranchers and Twizzlers. Local Las Vegas dessert chefs also are on call daily to create cupcakes, cookies, s’mores, chocolate-dipped strawberries and other treats.
A custom chocolate sculpture of the New York City skyline serves as the backdrop for the 13,000-square-foot location. While the skyline is made of approximately 800 pounds of pure Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, an imitation of the Empire State Building was crafted using 1,800 Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars.
Consumers who participate in the Hershey’s Chocolate World experience have the opportunity to interact with a variety of personalized elements and features. For example, visitors can customize candy wrappers, as well as create and purchase their own assortment of Hershey’s Kisses, Jolly Ranchers flavors and Reese’s products.
Guests also can share their Hershey’s Chocolate World Las Vegas experiences with friends and family via social media. For example, consumers can film and share a video of them starring in a Reese’s TV ad. Or, customers can pose for a photo and have it printed on a chocolate bar wrapper that features the Las Vegas skyline and a personalized message.
The Hershey Company spent two years crafting the flagship experience, considering all design elements, activations and features, according to Hunt. For the store’s grand opening celebration on June 3, Hershey gave away one million Hershey’s Kisses chocolates all around the city of Las Vegas following a ceremonial ribbon cutting in front of the new store.
The “Kissing Las Vegas” campaign “was our way of sharing our excitement of bringing Hershey’s Chocolate World to The Strip,” Hunt explained. “We blanketed the city with Hershey’s Kisses chocolates in several locations along The Strip, including numerous hotels, wedding chapels, a Las Vegas 51s game and Three Square Food Bank, among other locations.”
