As founder of the Cheesecake Factory restaurants — built to showcase his mother’s dessert creations — Overton had been asked by the owners of the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino to create an upscale casual dining concept for that Las Vegas property. Employing sumptuous fabrics and textures along with artisan detailing, the color scheme is reminiscent of a Venetian carnival. Floors and table tops are marble, while hand-blown glass

fixtures and intricate mosaics add an aura of luxuriousness to the interior. Blending European grandeur and luxury with all-American sensibilities and spirit, the Grand Lux Cafe opened in 1999.

Overton says it took about a year for the company to realize that people were coming back again and again – and it wasn’t just hotel and casino guests. “To be able to ‘strike lightning’ twice with both the Cheesecake Factory and Grand Lux Cafe is very exciting,” he says. Grand Lux Cafe now has 13 units in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

The broad and eclectic menu draws inspiration from around the world, with American specialties alongside European classics and other international preparations. The menu features 150 items that are prepared fresh on site and executed in an open, exhibition-style kitchen. A signature feature of the menu is made-to-order desserts, turning out creations such as Molten Chocolate Cake, New Orleans Beignets and Warm Rustic Apple Pie.
 

	Hollister Co. With more than 400 stores in the United States and Canada, this Southern California lifestyle brand has been riding an unparalleled
wave of success since its debut in the summer of 2000. In each of the last four seasons, this unit of Abercrombie & Fitch has topped the ranking as teens’ Top Clothing Brand in a study by Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray.

Targeting the 14- to 18-year-olds it refers to as Dudes and Bettys, the stores and the marketing effort are themed to a laid-back West Coast surf shack, including the weathered shutters and palm trees with a teal-colored boardwalk leading into the stores. A lounge area is decorated with surfboards and beach chairs, with blankets beside them and reading material all around. A video wall displaying a live feed from Surf City in Huntington Beach, Calif., sets the mood.

The apparel inside is described as “preppie California cool lifestyle,” and beauty and body care products have been phased in, including a line of lip care called Betty’s Body. The chain’s signature fragrance is called SoCal, and the dimly-lit stores are sprayed with fragrance every half hour. Loud music is a “must” during operating hours; the company policy calls for maintaining the rock sounds at the 80-to-85-decibel level — just below the OSHA threshold for discomfort.

Advertising features the look of an aging West Coast surf haven, with sepia tones dominating a faded, worn-out ambience of halcyon days at Huntington Beach. Hollister’s logo is a flying seagull, which is often employed as decoration on the clothing it sells. An alternate logo is the number “22,” which apparently refers to its ersatz founding year of 1922 by the equally fictitious John Hollister. This spring, Abercrombie & Fitch will open a multi-level Hollister flagship store in New York’s fashionable SoHo area.

Netflix If, as the song goes, video killed the radio star, then Netflix has put video rental stores on life support. The proof is in the popcorn when a movie reviewer implores readers to “Netflix it right away.” Though critics were skeptical at first, CEO Reed Hastings was convinced he’d achieve success zigging while the rest of the world zagged: He was right.

Established in 1998, Netflix is the world’s largest online movie rental service, providing more than seven million subscribers access to more than 100,000 DVD titles, plus a growing library of more than 8,000 choices that can be watched instantly on desktop computers.

In addition to the movies, TV shows and other recorded entertainment on DVD, Netflix offers personalized movie recommendations and more than two billion movie ratings courtesy of its Cinematch engine. The top-secret algorithm makes movie suggestions used by more than 90 percent of Netflix customers.

The company boasts that there are no due dates and no late fees, while offering nine different subscription plans, the lowest starting at $4.99 for one-at-a-time delivery of two DVDs a month. For no additional fee, subscribers can view movies and TV programs on their PCs.

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