Everyone wants to capture that full-price selling that you get from gift cards after Christmas. This is a perfect way to do it. Since it's 'found' money, (consumers) will pay full price for something that's kind of cool.

This week, in terms of the Christmas season, is probably the least important week, ... The last two weeks are probably going to be the most important. You have the widest spread between Christmas and New Year's that you can possibly have this year, so after this week, things really start to get interesting.

Frankly, we believe that this analysis is flawed and somewhat facile. We believe the risks remain acutely material at Bebe and for investors of Bebe.

The real question is how the rise in gasoline prices is going to affect the holiday season. I think this will be the toughest test of the consumer in at least four years.

We're all sitting here waiting for this company to produce earnings from the changes Chuck Conaway has initiated. These changes are going to make a substantive difference. The market believes it. We do too. But it won't start being reflected until we see the hard numbers.

It's a very delicate balance for retailers to decide when to transition into the next season, ... Some retailers hope launching back-to-school lines early will result in better margins. But if a clothing chain picks out a trend and puts it into stores too early and that trend flops with consumers, it leads to lost dollars. Retailers don't want to be stuck with extra inventory so they'll start putting out the sales signs fast.