Folks strolling along the sidewalks of the Central West End are purposefully avoiding crowds at malls. The warm weather and some new shops enticed many to forgo the 50 percent plus discounts routinely offered at malls stores on Black Friday.

In the CWE, discounts top out at about 25 percent.

“We can’t offer them 40 percent, but we can offer them something they can’t get in a mall,” said Hillary Dutcher of Ivy Hill.

She opened shop in October and although she was expecting a crush of clients when she opened today, she was more realistic by noon.

Ivy Hill is a cute girl shop for the woman who likes a little modern vintage in her closet and loves the retro jewelry.

In general, the CWE was nicely populated by foot traffic and the eateries were full.

But the most telling sign is the abundance of parking. I didn’t have trouble parking and I moved locations three times. So most of the shoppers and visitors all seemed to live within walking distance.

Rothchild’s antiques was full of browsers and so was Mary Jane’s women’s boutique.

The seasonal shop that opens here during the winter holidays (it closes Dec. 20) offering $15 scarves and $5 hats and gloves opened on the corner of Euclid and McPherson last week and business was good on Black Friday. The prices were a big draw.

I have a birthday party tonite and opted to change my gift, when I saw a great golden rod yellow, russet and orange paisley scarf. But before I could get it to the counter, no less than three people commented on it and one asked me if I was really, really sure I wanted it because if not, she did.

Well, at that point I had to get it. Sorry, lady.