I'm not 'high end'

I live near the Fashion Square mall, now known as Westfield Fashion Square, which has been as upscaled and high-ended as a mall can be -- a guy can't even get a pack of underwear there -- and I knew the Wesfields had the same in store for Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga. Never mind the question of where the rest of us are expected to shop, but new Daily News business reporter Julia Scott relates some of the ritziness in "High-end stores in mix for mall":

Other stores include Chick's, Elizabeth, Forth & Tone, Janie and Jack, Nine West, Planet Funk, Puma, Pumpkin Patch, Rip Curl, Sigrid Olsen, Chico's, soma, Una and Zara.

I guess that's pretty high end, but Chick's is the sporting goods store currently moored in Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade (so close, and yet so close -- talk about cornering the market and sending any notion of "competition" swirling down the bowl). The manager there gave our then-2-year-old daughter a free hat (they do have nice baseball hats there), and she makes everyone who comes into the house wear it at least once.

But here's the money shot:

Westfield Topanga's food court will also be replaced with a more upscale "cafe style" eating area with china, flatware and busing service.

What? I'm going to get my burrito served on a real plate? That's upscale, all right. The silver lining in this haute cloud is that with china and flatware, there won't be a mountain of plastic plates, spoons, forks and whatnot that COULD be recycled but instead ends up in the garbage. So it'll be chi-chi and environmentally correct, too. ... Maybe these Westfield people know what they're doing. If it has the Disney Store, Hello Kitty and those 50-cent kiddie rides, our little girl is all in.

And while all that upscale trade is going on in the main mall ... I'll be at the new Target stocking up on Fruit of the Looms.