To stay on top, Borgata spends to refresh its retail business

ATLANTIC CITY - It takes effort and money to stay No. 1. And Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the top-grossing gambling palace here every year since its debut in 2003, has been willing to put in both.

Borgata is revamping its offerings once again. This time, three upscale retail stores - Misura, Carina, and Borgata Collection - have new lighting, fixtures, and color design to be more inviting to patrons. A fourth store - Antica Murrina, which sells Italian glass jewelry - opened April 12 in the Shoppes at the Water Club, Borgata's second hotel.

The retail refresh at the Shore's first Las Vegas-style megacasino comes on the heels of a $50 million renovation of nearly 1,600 rooms in Borgata's original hotel tower completed over the summer. This year, the casino invested another $50 million to upgrade some restaurants and redesign its elevator banks and hotel lobby.

"We still have new visitors walking through the door for the first time," Joe Lupo, senior vice president of operations, said Friday. "There are those who come so often that they've watched the building evolve over the years and are looking for new experiences. That's why we spend so much on our product and maintaining it."

Since Borgata opened, Lupo said, owner Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas has invested about $1 billion for expansion, renovations, and general maintenance on top of the $1.2 billion spent to construct it. The biggest add-on was the $400 million Water Club, which added 800 rooms.

Industry observers say this strategy is what Atlantic City needs as gambling revenue continues to plummet. A New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement report this month showed three key tourism metrics went up in 2012 from 2011: casinos' non-gaming revenue (up 2.8 percent), room revenue (up 2.2 percent), and entertainment/other revenue sources (up 15.6 percent).

"The numbers reflect the ongoing changing profile of the resort visitor, which is less likely to be a convenience gambler and more likely to stay overnight," Israel Posner of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Richard Stockton College said of an analysis released this week.

Businesses that lease space in the 12 casinos here - such as Marshall Retail Group, which owns Misura, Carina, and the Borgata Collection - also reported a 39 percent increase in sales last year, to $246 million.

On Friday, as weekend guests filtered into the Borgata, Shaira Campusano, 38, and husband Danny perused the goods at Misura. They planned a two-night stay for his 42d birthday.

"We usually go to high-end malls," Campusano said as she looked at men's designer sunglasses. "This is great."