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Furry chocolate-brown UGG boots lure shoppers at Nordstrom. Slinky aubergine knit dresses dangle from BCBG's racks. And 1970s-era wide-legged slacks, with tailored poplin blouses, are the featured outfit at the Limited.
But are we ready for cool-temperature fashions yet?
"Absolutely not," said Robyn Valliere-Tharp, 36, as she sat chatting in the food court in the Plaza at King of Prussia. "I'm here to shop the summer sales at Charlotte Russe. I won't be buying fall clothes until September."
Autumn's arrival in retail outlets comes only a few weeks after schools close and still months before we have to leave the beach - a definite mood-killer. For some time now, I've lamented the fact that retailers want us to rush our lives for the sake of sales.
In recent years, that strategy worked. The economy was robust, and we went to the malls each week for entertainment's sake. About five years ago, retailers started introducing richer-hued clothing in their stores the weekend after July Fourth. It was their attempt to sell the idea of "seasonless" clothes as if we lived, or would eventually live, in a climate like Los Angeles'.
But this year, high food and energy prices have slowed down our mall jaunts, now about as frequent as a Diane von Furstenberg sample sale in Idaho.
Luxury shoppers may still be living lavishly. But many of us have had to forgo beach getaways for stay-cations. Amusement parks have seen a drop in attendance. In fact, if it weren't for the weekly heat waves, we could write off summer as a total bust. Back off, fall!
True, the time is not right for cool-weather fashions, but that doesn't mean some of the style options aren't tantalizing. Next season's tailored cap-sleeve peplum dresses promise to be swanky for young girls and mature women. Pencil skirts with full-sleeve blouses will be a classy look. Tights in navy blues and berry pinks will make outfits pop. And the pantsuit is promising to make a comeback.
I came pretty close to buying a pair of $150 Franco Sarto metallic tie-up oxfords. I thought it wouldn't break me if I brought lunch for the next two weeks, right?
Tracie Walker, 38, almost succumbed too, with a purchase of a $398 oversized, Carly-style Coach in chocolate brown covered with interlocking C's. She took the bag all the way to her Overbrook home before returning it.
"I just realized in this day and time, it wasn't essential," she said. "I'm looking at my bills. Everything is so much more expensive, and I already have one."
It's this very I-have-it-already sentiment that marks the difference between the shopper of the early millennium and now, said Marshal Cohen, an analyst at New York-based NPD Market Research. Once upon a time, we'd buy things in duplicates. We hoarded. But these days it doesn't make sense to buy something we can't wear for two months when we need gas, like, now.
That's why, Cohen said, shoppers are being selective in their purchases. One is enough. And just because a hot new look is on the racks doesn't mean we'll buy it. A recent trip to the mall revealed the racks were full - both sale and full price.
There is some good that can come out of our streamlining. Within the last five years, retailers have been quick to put clothes on the racks, no matter how ill-fitting or ugly the styles, if celebrities were wearing them (or designing them). Maybe if we are more discerning shoppers, the stores will make better choices.
In the meantime, mallgoers can enjoy browsing, even if they can't buy.
"No, I'm not buying $200 jeans anymore," said Charmaine Prusinowski as she headed into Nordstrom on the lookout for three-quarter-length-sleeve transition T-shirts.
"But I love shoes, I love purses and I love makeup. And who knows, maybe I'll catch something at the preseason sale."
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