Ok, we don't live in Sudbury, practically all the malls that carry luxury designers exist in DT or the GTA (With the exception of other provinces and Montreal), our climate is almost no different from New York, it's just the customers are seasonal-minded and only look out for safe & practical clothes to wear or something a celebrity wears. I am definetely not disagreeing with you about the reasons why designers choose malls over streets...I mean Yorkdale had Michael Kors, Burberry, & Hugo Boss Black first right?
But peoples expectations of Bloor Street of having all these great names is way too high for it to happen anytime soon, i'm not saying we won't get them on that street yet. But maybe that will all change when Nordstrom and the 500,000 sqft american outlet mall set up that can all change very quickly.
Another thing, why aren't designer boutiques that carry business attire not in the financial district? That Brooks Brothers location in the RBC plaza is like the 2nd highest grossing in the world just under NYC location. And no, not all their suits ARE CHEAP! They generally range anywhere from $1000-4000 + Made to Measure & Black Fleece Collection.
And in reference to Toronto being a Wannabe of NYC, it's so true, look at all the people, the buildings, all the new stores coming to Toronto....The people here may still be annoyingly patriotic but Toronto may as well be added on to the American border if more American businesses keep flooding into our Province & taking out the Canadian retail businesses that are practically hanging from a small thread of a business they still have.