While F1 is booming in Las Vegas, some local companies are still feeling the financial pressure

LAS VEGAS — Jay’s Market On Flamingo is a corner gas station like so many others in and around Las Vegas, offering a little bit of everything. Because it happens to be at the intersection of two of Las Vegas’ busiest roads, it’s a convenient stop for out-of-towners who need groceries on their way in or out of town.

However, in the last two Novembers, that convenience was interrupted by the construction of the Las Vegas Grand Prix Formula 1 circuit with 4.2 miles of city streets, requiring traffic restrictions and outright road closures that caused significant traffic congestion throughout the city. For Wade Bohn, the owner of Jay’s Market, located where Flamingo Road and Koval Lane intersect, the traffic jams are not only a traffic nightmare, but also a financial nightmare. His shop is located along the straight between turns 4 and 5.

“If I don’t have control over my business, whether I’m successful or not, I get frustrated,” Bohn said. “I have no control. Literally: no control. For thirteen years I have been in control of my business, been very profitable and made a good living for me and my employees. F1 comes to town, literally no business. It’s unbelievable and frustrating.

“I can’t sleep at night.”

As Bohn spoke, his anger was conveyed through his words, a quivering upper lip and piercing blue eyes. He explained how the Las Vegas Grand Prix threatens his livelihood.

In November 2022, the last time F1 didn’t race here, Jay’s Market had gross sales of $628,000, Bohn said. However, the following year, November sales dropped significantly. At the time of writing, it’s at $144,000 for the month. All told, taking into account all the construction, road closures, traffic congestion and the closure of a sub shop that was renting space in the store for $4,000 a month, Bohn says he lost $3.4 million annually between 2022 and 2023. And this year will be even worse.

Four lawsuits have been filed against Clark County by local business owners seeking financial damages, claiming the race negatively impacted their businesses. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The culprit is mainly due to a race that Bohn and many other business owners in the area do not want to continue this year, arguing that it will likely push them beyond their economic capabilities. Bohn has already had to cut his workforce by half and has started looking for a second job to supplement his income.

“If there is a fourth year (of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2026) I would expect to go bankrupt and lose my business,” Bohn said. “I am currently looking for work. Me, the owner, I need a job. I have to make money. I don’t make any money. It’s terrible.”

Four lawsuits have been filed against Clark County by local business owners, including Bohn, seeking financial damages for the negative impact on their businesses. The Las Vegas Grand Prix declined comment regarding any pending litigation.

“We’re not like New York City, where almost everyone lives in New York and you can walk to work,” said Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, spokesperson for a group of business owners suing the county. The Athletics. “Here we have to go to work by car or by bus. People get an extra hour to two to three hours a day to get to work and home. And F1 doesn’t compensate anyone for those extra hours, babysitting time, time in your car, lost hours, lost time. They don’t compensate anyone for anything. They don’t believe this should be the case.

“Our businesses have lost money.”

A view of the bridge installed next to Jay’s Market on Flamingo. (Jordan Bianchi / The Athletics)

Race organizers and Clark County have made significant efforts to ease the burden on local businesses, said Lori Nelson-Kraft, senior vice president of corporate affairs for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Athletics. Construction of the circuit for this year’s race took 65 percent less time than a year ago. And as much as possible, construction was done at night to minimize disruption during busier hours. Race representatives also met with local entrepreneurs, including Bohn, and they say they are open to ideas that could further help the community.

“We adjusted the plans based on that feedback,” Nelson-Kraft said. “So all those companies that participate have been able to have those forums to share that information and they’re always involved.”

One idea floated to help reduce traffic congestion was reducing the temporary bridge on Flamingo Road over Koval Lane from the four lanes it had last year to two. That bridge went up in October.

“Many improvements have been made and I can say that I have personally eaten at the restaurants that are in and around the circuit, especially in that corridor, since the car bridge was built in,” said Nelson-Kraft. “And, anecdotally, while I was eating there with my husband in that area, I had conversations with their staff where they shared with me, as a guest of their locations, that they have seen notable improvements from last year. ”

However, according to Bohn, the bridge should still help. Instead, it essentially put up a wall around its store. The traffic flow is further stimulated, so that even regular customers no longer want to stop.

At another small business in the area, a clerk (who asked not to be identified) took off his glasses and rubbed his temples when asked about the bridge. He then let out an exasperated sigh, dropped an F-bomb and said he had no comment other than to refer to the bridge by the derisive nickname used by some locals: “The Bridge to Bankruptcy.”

“F1 tells me this is going to help me, but it looks like a three-storey prison covered in black tarpaulin,” said Bohn. “There is no access to my property from Koval, it is completely closed off. I sit on a corner with two access points when F1 is not there. I only have one when they get here. When they’re here, it’s bad.’

Mayo-DeRiso said, “They put up that stupid bridge that cuts off traffic. It definitely hinders the flow.”

Race organizers and Clark County have made significant efforts to ease the burden on local businesses, but many are still outraged by F1’s presence. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Ideally, critics of the race would prefer the Las Vegas Grand Prix to be held outside the city so that the passageways would no longer have to be closed. But the likelihood that Formula 1 would be willing to run on a circuit other than one where drivers race around the Strip is a guess at best. The city and F1 have a ten-year contract.

According to Nelson-Kraft, last year’s inaugural Grand Prix had a $1.5 billion economic impact on the city. That figure exceeded expectations and the Super Bowl Las Vegas held in February raised $1 billion. Tax revenue from the race raised $77 million, the most in Las Vegas history.

Revenue forecasts for this year’s Grand Prix are lower than those for the 2023 edition, although they are expected to remain robust. What that exact figure is will only be known weeks and months after the race on Saturday evening. Three hundred thousand visitors are expected to pass through the gate during the three-day race weekend.

“We are a tourism-driven economy, we depend on filling more than 150,000 hotel rooms,” Nelson-Kraft said. “Special events are one of the big ways we do this. And no one organizes major events better than Las Vegas.”

Standing in front of a drink cooler in his store, Bohn wonders where all that money is going. None of it is aimed at him, he said, as his bills continue to pile up from an event he sees as an unnecessary burden.

“The pile just keeps growing,” Bohn said. “I want this to go away. This nightmare will go away, I will sleep better.”

(Top photo of Jay’s Market owner Wade Bohn: KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)