They aren't exactly shopping, and they aren't really browsing.
If you didn't know any better, you might think they were loitering.
"Mall Milers" arrive at 7:30 every morning at The Mall in Columbia. The climate is always perfect, the path always clear, and the likelihood of being mugged or hit by a car is decidedly lower than it is on the street.
The fitness program allows residents to walk the mall every day before the stores open and the crowds arrive.
Some walk for fun, others for fitness and others, like Earl Alley, for life.
"I retired in March of 1988, had open heart surgery that December," said the 72-year-old former University of Maryland maintenance supervisor.
On his doctor's advice, "I started walking right after that," Mr. Alley said.
He said walking with a group of neighbors has him feeling better than ever.
But there are other incentives.
"When we're done we sit, have coffee and it's about 10 to 14 women sitting here, and I'm the only man," Mr. Alley said.
Just then his wife Jewell, 68, returned from the coffee shop and sat opposite him at a food court table. He quickly turned the conversation back to their two-mile daily walks.
"We walk for about an hour, maybe six laps. It's like a club," Mr. Alley said.
In fact, it is a club.
Some 50 walkers fill the mall every morning, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
Walkers sign a sheet when they arrive, hang up their coats and step into the morning silence of the mall. Merchants prepare their stores. Early arriving mall employees sleep or drink coffee at tables and benches. Occasional noises from cleaning crews and shop owners echo through the emptiness.
The walkers stream through, their soft-soled shoes barely leaving a noise.
They do not window shop, and they do not walk slowly. This is no Sunday stroll.
"We open the town center to give people in the community a safe and warm place to exercise," said Sonja Sanders, marketing director at The Mall in Columbia.
The program began four years ago. Walkers enjoy the safety, convenience and community atmosphere that the mall allows. In conjunction with Howard County General Hospital, "Mall Milers" also provides monthly blood pressure checks and occasional fitness seminars.
Ms. Sanders said one lap around each of the malls' two levels is about a mile.
"All the programs are related to fitness," she said.
But all the walking is not fitness-related.
Caryl Maxwell and Michon Semon like to stay in shape, but they also like to enjoy a banana nut muffin and cup of coffee after a few laps around the mall.
They window-shop, but only at cruising speed. Admiring an umbrella as they pass a store window, they do not linger, but continue to talk about its vibrant colors as they round the corner near the carousel for another lap.
Slowing down, or stopping, is not an option for them.
"You hit the big 5-0, and you start to take stock of how you're going to spend the rest of your life," said Ms. Maxwell, 54. "Fortunately, the ice cream place isn't open when we're done walking."