At the Dufferin Mall you will find the Bioweigher, "the most accurate public scale of all time."You might also notice Miri, or her cousin Eti, and their excitable promotion of a range of beauty products from the Dead Sea, including a miracle manicure kit that will buff and polish your nails as if by magic. "Don't jump, don't scream, don't dance in the mall," cautions Miri before revealing a reporter's suddenly shining and transformed fingernails. You can save yourself $2,000 in airfare, not to mention the effects of jet lag, by skipping that restorative trip to the sea and coming instead to The Duff.You can also find a lamp constructed of white plastic tulips, adorned at the base with white fake marabou feathers.But for these treats the shopper now has to hunt.The Duff used to excel at such wares, including the sadly departed As Seen on TV shop, with its array of astounding products that would melt flab (guaranteed), tighten abs (!) and retrieve those hard-to-reach dust bunnies.Now The Duff is being tarted up. Fluffed. Her $11-million makeover has the neighbourhood buzzing. Maybe The Gap is moving in? No, it isn't. But H&M just opened a 17,000-square-foot store, the latest Toronto outlet for the Swedish clothing chain, which was busily opening in Kuwait and Dubai at the same time it was launching at The Duff. A phalanx of H&M workers, in black T-shirts imprinted with "Hey there ... " on the front, and "We are finally here" on the back, cheered the opening. Shoppers were lined up to get in. "We want to go into what we see as the key malls to cover off the key areas of the city," says an H&M spokesperson of the mega-corporation's decision to settle in here, on Dufferin St., just north of College.Not all that long ago, "key mall" would not have been any retailer's description of The Duff. There was the fatal shooting in the fall of 1991. The recession. Downsizing. The loss of inner-city manufacturing jobs. Vacant retail space. Drug issues. Dropout issues. The murmurings throughout this neighbourhood and those adjacent that the Duff was dangerous, that you had better not go there.

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