Sahara opens doors to let visitors buy everything

LAS VEGAS — The Sahara hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip is reopening its doors one month after closing to let visitors and bargain-hunters buy pretty much anything they want.

From furniture to random trinkets, commercial restaurant equipment and stage lights, liquidation company National Content Liquidators has put a price tag on most of the casino's items for a sale starting Thursday morning.

The casino is expected to stay open every day until everything is sold, leaving it little more than an empty shell. The firm is charging $10 per person admission during the sale's first four days, when buyers are expected to clean out choice items like televisions and other electronics, as well as one-of-a-kind mementos of the once-iconic resort.

The Sahara closed last month after 59 years, when owner SBE Entertainment decided it was no longer economically viable to keep the property open. SBE has not shared its plans for the property on the north end of the Strip, in the same neighborhood as older casinos like Circus Circus and the Riviera, as well as high-profile multibillion-dollar projects that have been stalled indefinitely, including the Fontainebleau and Echelon.

The historic casino, which opened in 1952, is remembered for attracting big celebrities in its heyday. Don Rickles and Louis Prima were regulars, while Sonny and Cher and Judy Garland also took the stage in the casino's showroom.

In recent years, the Sahara became known for cheap blackjack and a NASCAR-themed area that included a cafe and small roller coaster.