Revamped shop not limited to bare essentials

      Rick Rodrigues wants to take the sleaze out of the sexy lingerie business.
      This year he revamped Bare Essentials, an intimate apparel shop for men and women, at 4029 W. Sahara Ave.
      The place is decorated in flamboyant, brightly colored boas and showgirl headdresses. If it were not for the small section of sexual toys in the corner, it could be mistaken for a costume shop.
      He and his business partner Eldon Garrot ripped the bars off the windows and placed large windows at the entrance. They also expanded the shop to twice its size.
      "When you walk in here what do you see?" asked Rodrigues, throwing his hands into the air. "You see color. You see clean space. You see light. This is not a dark and dingy place."
      When the men bought the place last year they had no experience as proprietors of an adult business.
      They'd purchased a Las Vegas shoe store, which they sold last year, after moving from San Francisco in 1993. Before that they had operated an antique shop. Garrot said he designed clothes before going into the antique business in San Francisco.
      "The key to any business is listening to people," said Rodrigues. "I listen to them and they tell me what they want."
      Garrot said many customers are exotic dancers looking for a place where they feel comfortable to try on skimpy outfits.
      "People just want a nice place to come and try things on," he said.
      About 75 percent of Bare Essentials' business comes from tourists who visit the city.
      Rodrigues provides them with helpful tidbits about what shows in the city are still "real Las Vegas shows," meaning the topless showgirl acts such as Bally's "Jubilee."
      He also lets them know which hotels are catering to families with small tots in tow.
      Rodrigues said his customers miss the sin in Sin City.
      "One customer called Las Vegas a Disney World that had gone mad," he said. "I couldn't agree with him more."
      The 53-year-old businessman predicts Las Vegas is going back to adult entertainment, citing Steve Wynn, whose Bellagio hotel is expected to cater to high scale, adult clients.
      Though he pushes the glamor of Las Vegas golden days as "exotic," fliers in his shop advertise adult bed and breakfast places and adult entertainment supper clubs.
      Rodrigues said people are looking for a nice place to be naughty. And in his shop he says he gives people more than just sexy clothes -- he gives a chance at their dreams.
      "We've saved so many marriages in this place," Rodrigues said.