On the off chance that you haven’t noticed, I wanted to make sure you’re aware that everything in Seattle is on sale. And I’d like it if we could all do something about it.

I’ve been all over town this week and the stories I’m hearing from retailers vary as much as the neighborhoods do. One shop owner just north of the ship canal told me that she and her fellow merchants had come to a grave agreement: their entire hamlet had stopped shopping. Stopped, even, walking inside the area’s shops.

On her racks were some really striking brand new fall pieces; a row of summer goods in the back were marked down to something ridiculous like 75% of their value. Similarly, last Sunday found the local outpost of a high-end national department store deader than a ghost town. Designer duds discounted to nothing hung lonesome and untouched.

If a sale drops hard in the middle of the city and no one’s around to take advantage of boxy-cut short sleeve sweaters and three-season cotton trousers does it still make a sound?

Then again, the tale was different Downtown later on in the week. Two retailers greeted me with the news that fall had fallen. Seattle shoppers, they said, took the three or four days of gray and drizzle as a sign that summer was over, and they were attacking these merchants’ new cool-weather styles with zeal and enthusiasm.

So go figure.

One thing’s for sure: Everybody in town has a section of their shop devoted to really great deals right now. Fall colors are moving in all over the city and, to make way for them, summer stuff is on sale for a song—despite the fact that the weatherman has a 92 degree day on the agenda for next week.

Your favorite boutiques and clothiers can use your support. Keep in mind that it’s not just the big chain retailers who hold half-yearly sales and the like; they’re just the only ones who still have a big hype budget for advertising them. Remember the whole 3/50 thing and support the independent shops, restaurants, and vendors you love best.

[I really can’t recall where the image above was stolen from … it’s been in a folder on my desktop for ages, and I thought of it as I was typing this and hoping that this year’s summer/fall in-between zone will be as beautiful as our spring/summer was.]