New Casino Approved For The New York Area

White Plains - After years of languishing as a forgotten outlet in a receding market K & K Wigs of White Plains, New York has received a lifeline from the New York state government. K & K Wigs is going to be the world’s first wigsino. The 2000 square foot retail store, which recently closed due to non-existent sales will be reopened later this year. Once a lonely anachronism the store will be reborn as a hot spot when it reopens later this year; the new twist is that the sales floor will be embellished with 200 VLT's. Partnering in the project is K & K Wigs intertainment group better known as K-Wig.

K & K Wigs has long been under pressure after enjoying decades as the premier wig retailer in the area. During the glory years of the 1970's K & K Wigs enjoyed a monopoly in Westchester County in the hair replacement market. K & K Wigs often carried hard to find Wigs from upscale suppliers from Italy, the Middle East or the Orient. On a Saturday afternoon the sales floor was usually packed. Starting in the 1980's a troubling trend emerged. K & K sales crashed as the market has evolved. Sales then nosedived as consumers acquired the ability to discretely purchase wigs on-line. The OTB (Off-site toupee brokers) has made brick and mortar wig stores a thing of the past. In addition to a shrinking market share, emerging technologies like follicle hair replacement and over the counter medications like Rogaine have provided consumers many more options than just a hair piece. Pressure on K & K Wigs was being applied from all sides.

now a closed storefront, (red awning) soon to be a gold mine wigsino.

K&K Wig owners reluctantly closed the store during the summer of 2009 with hopes of getting the wigsino bill passed. With the legislative coup de etat passing the state assembly last week K & K is poised for a summer grand re-opening. K & K owner Morris "Morrie" Kessler promises "to take our dedication to unparalleled service and having the hottest wigs and toupees on the east coast and bringing it to an unprecedented new level. The wigsino is going to be a shot in the arm for our struggling industry. Already the trickle down effect is being felt as wig manufacturers are hiring people hoping to feed the perceived increased demand prompted by the new wigsinos coming on-line.”

During the Glory Days Of Wigs Owner Morriey Kessler Advertised On Local TV

Partnering with K & K Wigs will be K-Wig or K& K Wig Entertainment group. While K-Wig had the lowest bid out of all of the casino partners Governor Paterson said “All of the groups have valid proposals, but K-Wig presented a comprehensive bid that enjoys community support and also offers strong marketing appeal.” K-Wig is a consortium of various industry groups and local business leaders. The casino operations expertise is provided by the Larry's Lounge group. Larry's Lounge operates Larry's Video Poker bar in Ely Nevada

Mr. Kessler continued" We're talking about a brand new, cutting edge, neighborhood sized, 2,000 square foot casino that's bursting with over 200 of the hottest state-of-the-art slots , both smoke-friendly and smoke free, plus an amazing variety of hair piece options with some of the coolest hair products around." K-Wig is partnering with rap impressionato Russel Simmons hoping to capture a youth demographic with the wigsino; a long time weakness of the hair piece industry. Russel Simmons likes what K-Wig can do for the community "I got a big commitment from K-Wig to support animal rights, local unions, diversity initiatives, and community development projects, like the Peacekeeper Anti-Violence program that I’ve already started in Queens and Brooklyn, in part through K-Wig's contribution." Russel Simmons has no concerns that the slot machine gambling will have a negative affect on the community he represents. "The positive programs that K-Wig has committed to far outweighs the negative effects of having a gambling joint acting as a regressive tax on those that can least afford to pay it" Apparently Mr. Simmons is into substitute morality; especially if he can turn a profit on it.

The largest investor with a stake of more than 50% is Hairvest Group; a Romanian investment firm led by Micah Bagman, according to Andrew Frank, a PR executive who helped bring the players together. Not much is known about the Hairvest group but Andrew Frank assures state officials that they are "as clean as a whistle" the reports of Hairvest being tied to drug trafficking and money laundering was "pure rubbish".

Morrie Kessler’s greatest hope is that a “struggling industry is revived. We hope that with increased revenues from the VLT’s that wigs will once again be cool.” It is government interventions into struggling industry the gives hope to people that are down on their luck. For Mr. Kessler’s “even if we never sell another wig we know that K & K wigs will continue as a going concern for the next generation.” For Morrie Kessler this wigsino was the change that was needed.