Erin French was visiting a Greeley, Colo. mall with her family when she made a startling discovery: Next to a children's play area was a "Kids N Teen" clothing store for young girls. It was selling underwear -- or a distinct lack thereof.

"They have cuddly little stuffed animal backpacks and pretty little princess dresses," French told Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV. "Then we saw crotchless panties."

French said she was mortified and quickly took out her cell phone to capture images of the crotchless thongs for sale near the rest of the children's merchandise at the store. Though the video is grainy, the underwear appears to be split down the crotch.

"My first initial response was, 'Am I really seeing that?'" she said. "They're sized to fit a seven-year-old girl. That's just totally inappropriate."

The store's owner told KUSA that Kids N Teen caters mostly to children, but about a quarter of their inventory is geared toward teenagers. The mall's management office was notified and the panties have since been removed.

Even though the panties are now gone, French said they never should have been in the store in the first place.

"This is a baby store, this is a children's store," she said. "There is one purpose for an item of that nature and that is not something that we want to encourage for our young girls."

The store told the station it has only been in business the last two weeks and is still trying to figure out its merchandise.

Over the summer, a French clothing designer came under fire for its line of "loungerie" -- skimpy lingerie items aimed at 4- to 12-year-olds.

(h/t Buzzfeed)