THE United States of America although in a reccession, is still a consumers market. We as Americas will spend our last dime on our desires; hints credit card debt, foreclosure, and repossession... but that is getting a bit off topic. This is a prime reason as to why high end retailers housing fashion designer collections, interiors showrooms, and other industries come the states with the certainty of prosperity.
THE most desired cities are much like the "Kitchen Triangle" to designers and architects, being the placement of the sink, stove and refrigerator in relation to the secondary parts of the kitchen; but in modern day, the island is almost the most essential part. These cities are New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. It is even evident through the media that the rest of the country is aware of the big money that these cities have, whether it be a celebrity, politician or a self made millionaire through varies ventures. But as I've become aware of in the past 2 years, Chicago is considerably one of those major players. There are all the major sports teams, music industry artists, actors/actress'... and duh, Oprah Winfrey.
SO this led me to the question of: why is the city of Chicago still being over looked? After talking with my girl(follow her on twitter, and follow her blogspot PowerBitch), we confronted the issue of the demographics and in that sense were led to the Kardashian sister's store "DASH" which has locations in both LA and Miami, as an example. This I could understand but I do believe that the same type of clothing can be found in boutiques around the city of Chicago, and with there television exposure, they would be equally successful in Chicago's market.
ONE of my favorite brands for both interiors and clothing, Missoni (an accessory, apparel and home decor brand) has only one store in the United States which is, well you guessed it, in New York City. If you could compare two city such as LA and Miami have been compared, then Chicago would be New York's twin; fast past, "hipsters", old money, new money, and there's no upper eastside but the equivalent would be the north end of Michigan Avenue. These are every thing a high end international and/or home based retailer needs to exceed predicted sales.
ONE day the city of Chicago will have a fashion week as big and New York, Paris, and Milan. The industry is just clueless of how much money can be made here. Get a clue!
