Christie Lites Moves to Expanded Las Vegas Location

Christie Lites is moving May 12 to a larger location in Las Vegas to accommodate increased demand for its entertainment lighting and rigging services. This expanded location further strengthens Christie Lites' multi-office network supplying full service stage lighting equipment rentals across North America, the company says.

Mike Gaynor continues as the operations manager. The new address: 4850 Statz Ave - Suite 103, North Las Vegas, NV 89081. The phone number remains the same at 702-222-0363.

Says Christie Lites VP rentals Ken Alexander, "The Christie Lites Vegas operation services the full gamut of market sectors with an emphasis on corporate, trade shows, and concert touring. We look forward to a substantial increase in our capacity to support our growing client base from this important hub. The new larger space will also allow us to provide much better prep space to the master electricians and show crews, as well as allow the staff to turn equipment around from show to show more quickly and to the highest level of operational standards."

The move is staged in several phases, with operations and service to continue in full force with no down-time impact on customers. The majority of the move will take place May 10-11, with the full build-out completed between May 16-19.

Dan Souwand, Christie Lites VP of operations, says the new facility offers 81,000 sq. ft. with 30' ceilings to accommodate much higher volumes of equipment, and new systems which will be put in place to increase efficiency. The location is two miles closer to the Las Vegas Strip via Interstate 15, making it more convenient to the majority of the customers.

"We have designed an area the size of our current warehouse--30, 000 sq. ft. --to serve as a dedicated prep area," Souwand says. "We have 19 loading docks and have doubled our moving light testing and maintenance capacity."

Other enhancements include a high density automated truss and case tracking system, and the addition and expansion of automated equipment processing systems including cable loomers, cable coilers, and case stacking.

This is the fourth Christie Lites warehouse Souwand has set up in the past 18 months, so he has his method of moving and facility set-up down to a formula. "We're treating this move like a giant show. Our warehouses are set up like major consumer goods suppliers such as Home Depot, etc.--the system is a formula and all of our locations provide the same quality lighting and rigging products and level of service," he says. "The only difference the customer may notice between our New York or Winnipeg or Vegas locations is the weather."

Says Ken Alexander, "Las Vegas is a continually growing marketplace with so many of its venues being consistently booked with all types of events. We are seeing increased customer demand in virtually all of our market sectors and this expansion --closer to the heart of the action--will greatly benefit us and all our customers for years to come."