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American Morning
Minding Your Business: K-Mart Closing More Stores
Aired December 12, 2002 - 08:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: K-Mart, there's news out of the Detroit free press this morning, they're going to be closing another 200-plus stores, probably in January. Remember, they filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last January. Look at that, 283 stores already, and 22, 000 employees out of work. They are going to go down to probably 1,500 stores. That will make them about the same size as Target, I think, but a lot smaller than Wal-Mart.
Foot traffic, foot traffic at the giant retailers, take a look at this chart. Interesting to me. It comes from Merrill Lynch. You can see there, there is a number of people going in the stores, up nicely at a lot of the discounters, not a surprise in this economy, except for K-Mart.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What are they doing wrong?
SERWER: The stores are cluttered, they're messy, they're dirty, and I think people realize this thing is not going anywhere. Target is basically the same proposition but it's just so much more attractive. If you got a Target there and a Wal-Mart there and a K- Mart there, guess which one people aren't going to?
CAFFERTY: No contest.
SERWER: That is the way it's going right now.
CAFFERTY: The bank customers, small ones like us, traditionally are treated rather indifferently even or inhumanely by those..
SERWER: With disdain.
CAFFERTY: Yes, disdain, I like that.
The little guy wins one, a small victory?
SERWER: This is really amazing here. Bank One, the giant bank in Chicago, is charging customers $3 every time they visit a teller. A little bit of outrage. In fact, even their competition was making fun of them. The competition was saying, we will pay you come to our bank. Bank One is getting rid of that today.
CAFFERTY: I've talked to bank tellers and it's not worth three bucks.
SERWER: I wonder if the teller is getting $3 every time.
CAFFERTY: Maybe a piece of it. Then I'm not opposed, but I'm sure they are not.
SERWER: I somehow doubt they are. It is a victory for bank customers in Chicago.
CAFFERTY: Maybe you pay them $4 not to talk to you.
SERWER: Yeah, it's who pays who?
CAFFERTY: This is my stuff, please, $4 extra.
SERWER: Let me get my ATM card and get out of here.
CAFFERTY: Andy Serwer minding your business.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 12, 2002 - 08:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: K-Mart, there's news out of the Detroit free press this morning, they're going to be closing another 200-plus stores, probably in January. Remember, they filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last January. Look at that, 283 stores already, and 22, 000 employees out of work. They are going to go down to probably 1,500 stores. That will make them about the same size as Target, I think, but a lot smaller than Wal-Mart.
Foot traffic, foot traffic at the giant retailers, take a look at this chart. Interesting to me. It comes from Merrill Lynch. You can see there, there is a number of people going in the stores, up nicely at a lot of the discounters, not a surprise in this economy, except for K-Mart.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What are they doing wrong?
SERWER: The stores are cluttered, they're messy, they're dirty, and I think people realize this thing is not going anywhere. Target is basically the same proposition but it's just so much more attractive. If you got a Target there and a Wal-Mart there and a K- Mart there, guess which one people aren't going to?
CAFFERTY: No contest.
SERWER: That is the way it's going right now.
CAFFERTY: The bank customers, small ones like us, traditionally are treated rather indifferently even or inhumanely by those..
SERWER: With disdain.
CAFFERTY: Yes, disdain, I like that.
The little guy wins one, a small victory?
SERWER: This is really amazing here. Bank One, the giant bank in Chicago, is charging customers $3 every time they visit a teller. A little bit of outrage. In fact, even their competition was making fun of them. The competition was saying, we will pay you come to our bank. Bank One is getting rid of that today.
CAFFERTY: I've talked to bank tellers and it's not worth three bucks.
SERWER: I wonder if the teller is getting $3 every time.
CAFFERTY: Maybe a piece of it. Then I'm not opposed, but I'm sure they are not.
SERWER: I somehow doubt they are. It is a victory for bank customers in Chicago.
CAFFERTY: Maybe you pay them $4 not to talk to you.
SERWER: Yeah, it's who pays who?
CAFFERTY: This is my stuff, please, $4 extra.
SERWER: Let me get my ATM card and get out of here.
CAFFERTY: Andy Serwer minding your business.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
