We work continually to hold costs down. However, we are now faced with unprecedented increases in energy, transportation and raw materials.

We have tremendous concerns in three areas: transportation, because of rising fuel costs; utilities, because of rising fuel costs; and increases in health care costs. We could have given teachers a 7 percent pay raise instead of taking those things away. We could have hired more of those teachers at a higher salary.

We see slippage in retail construction as a function of increases in energy costs, which cuts into discretionary spending.

We have to continually buck the tide of increasing costs.

Retailers are caught in a 'Catch-22' situation. Their costs, such as transportation costs, are going up and this is not going to change in the short term. Meanwhile, their consumers are going to be extremely deal focused.

Bicycles are the most efficient vehicles on the planet, 50 times more efficient than cars, and twice as efficient as walking.