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Getting A Jump On Black Friday; Only 26 Shopping Days Until Christmas; Macy's Thanksgiving Balloons Fly; Store Owner Defies Call To Stay Open; New Obamacare Website Delays

Aired November 28, 2013 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. A very happy Thanksgiving to you and also a very happy Hanukkah. Wolf Blitzer is off today.

We start with a new Thanksgiving tradition, shopping. Check the calendar. This will be the shortest Christmas shopping season since 2002. Just 26 days until Christmas. So some stores are getting an early jump on the traditional Black Friday free-for-alls.

Now, this is not entirely new. In years past, we've seen a few stores opening at midnight or even a few hours earlier. But for the first time, it seems like the majority of the big box stores are going all in with Thanksgiving Day sales. And that includes one major store chain that's making it an all-day event.

Our Nick Valencia is at a Kmart just outside Atlanta and Kyung Lah at a Kmart in Burbank, California. We're going to start with Nick. So is it paying off or are there a lot of customers who are forgoing time with family to get into the store?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, happy Thanksgiving, Jim. You don't see too many people behind me, and that's not quite indicative for what we saw this morning. We showed up at 5:00 a.m. and it was frigid. Oh, just so cold outside, 22 degrees. It felt more like 17.

There was already about 30 people lined up outside these so-called door busters and they made a beeline straight for the electronics. That's the big deal here at Kmart. And everybody in line that we spoke to say they are putting themselves through it because they want deals.

As far as this Kmart is concerned, it's financially -- it's profitable for them. They're expecting about a 10 percent increase in sales or about $100,000 in revenue. Though not everyone is happy about it. There are some petitions online, Change.org has 100,000 signatures so far asking stores like Target to stay closed. They're trying to say that employees deserve time off. But the employees that we've spoken here today, Jim, they are just thankful to have a job on Thanksgiving -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: In years past, we've seen some violence as people rush into the stores. Did you see any of that?

VALENCIA: Yes.

SCIUTTO: The pictures we just saw there looked pretty under control, people happy, enjoying the holiday.

VALENCIA: No, it was pretty civil. And, in fact, Kmart here, they have this thing down to a science. They've been doing sales on Thanksgiving for about 22 years. So, they've got a system here, down to a science, like I said. Everyone that wanted a certain item, they were talked to before the stores opened so they were able to, you know, keep it in order here. Everything was pretty simple. Everybody that we talked to and saw, they were -- they were as polite as they could be on a -- on a day like today -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: All right, Nick, well, thanks for being there so early in the morning. Hope you get your break.

We're going to go now to Burbank, California where our Kyung Lah also working on the holiday. Kyung, how big are the crowds there?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, there's a line for this register but there aren't huge crowds here. Just like Nick was saying, it's calmed down considerably. But what is different is if you check your calendar, it's Thanksgiving and there are a lot of workers here.

There are actually quite a number of shoppers who have been buying a lot of things, like televisions, some of those items that are getting some deep discounts today. So things are lightening up, Jim. But you know, what is unique is at 6:00 a.m., there were 50 people lined up outside the big-box store.

SCIUTTO: Oh, no, you were another early riser, we're sorry. It's been an issue for some workers. We've heard of protests at some stores, even threats of strikes. Have you talked to workers there who were upset to be dragged in today?

LAH: Well, there's a couple of tales going on here. All of the workers we have spoken to say they are happy to be getting time and a half. These are lower paying jobs. They need the money. So this is great holiday pay. But, you know, this is the morning shift. They say, OK, well, we can compromise, make extra money, work the morning on Thanksgiving because we want to be home with families.

If you come back later in the day today, those employees that are working in the evening, they're not going to be very happy. A lot of these workers say some of them had evening shifts and they switched to try to get the morning shift so they could be home with families later today.

SCIUTTO: Well, at least it's good to hear they're getting a little extra money, time and a half. Thanks very much to Kyung Lah in Burbank, California.

Well, there is one store owner who is saying enough is enough. Holly Cassiano is a franchise owner of a Sears Hometown store in Plymouth, New Hampshire. She was asked to stay open Thanksgiving today and she said, no. We'll talk to Holly live in just a few minutes to talk about her frustrations.

Now, Macy's is one of the stores that will be open Thanksgiving night, a first for the retailer. But shopping wasn't the focus at Macy's Flagship store in New York this morning. It was all about the store's Thanksgiving Day parade. An 89-year-old tradition. It was a bit of a concern this morning that the windy weather could keep the giant parade balloons on the ground. I've been to that parade since I was a little kid. Those are really the highlight. But they were allowed up, just five feet lower than usual. Jason Carroll has been there for us.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, what you're looking at down there is the very end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. These are all the parade-goers who are now finishing up and heading out. It was a great time. People brought out their kids, big kids, little kids.

But the most important part is the giant helium balloons made it to the parade as well, correct (ph). It was cold but the sun came out and the balloons came out as well. Take a listen to what everybody had to say that came out to the parade. You guys came all the way up from Alabama?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alabama, Ala, lower Alabama.

CARROLL: And what does lower Alabama like about the parade so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything. The balloons.

CARROLL: There was some concern the balloons might not make it but they did. Any favorites that you saw?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess Sponge Bob.

CARROLL: Sponge Bob.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Sponge Bob.

CARROLL: He's one of my favorites too. Now, you guys are coming in from Oklahoma?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CARROLL: What are you thinking so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's great. Awesome, it is.

CARROLL: Having a good time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

CARROLL: What did you think of the balloons?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Loved them.

CARROLL: Any favorites? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Snoopy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spiderman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spiderman.

CARROLL: A lot of favorites down there. And I know Georgia was down there as well. I'm going to reach over. You remember them, right, Georgia? What did you -- what did you guys think so far?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love it.

CARROLL: (INAUDIBLE) than that. Any favorites?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spiderman and Cirque du Soleil.

CARROLL: Cirque du Soleil is not a balloon. But that's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spiderman was the favorite balloon.

CARROLL: So if you had to give it a grade, how was the parade?

CROWD: Awesome.

CARROLL: You know, Jim, that basically translates into they had a good time. So, --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Thanksgiving.

CARROLL: So, Jim, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Once again, Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade a good time for all those who decided to come out, brave the cold weather and take a look at the balloons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Puerto Rico just for you.

CARROLL: Bye, Jim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you.

SCIUTTO: Wow, looks like a lot of fun there, glad the balloons were up. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

We have Holly Cassiano, a franchise owner of a Sears Hometown store in Plymouth, New Hampshire joining us now. She received a corporate memo to stay open Thanksgiving but she isn't doing it. Thanks very much, Holly, for coming out with us. I know how important the holiday is to you. Tell me, why did you decide to defy that company order and keep your store closed?

HOLLY CASSIANO, FRANCHISE OWNER, SEARS HOMETOWN STORE: Well, when I got the news that we were to be open from Sears, in recent years, it was never an issue for us to be open on Thanksgiving. But for whatever reason, they decided that they wanted to compete with other retailers and for us to be open on Thanksgiving. It was mandated. SCIUTTO: Now, as you said no, did you get -- did you get any grief from the company? Any pushback? Or did they say, OK, you know, if you feel that strongly, we'll let you -- we'll let you stay home?

CASSIANO: No, they did not come gently. Let's just put it that way. They were very adamant about us being open. And I sent them a very kind letter stating my beliefs, that it's against what I believe in, and my religion, and that I was making for my store, that I was not going to be open.

SCIUTTO: Well, good for you. I know that a lot of Americans agree with you. There's a new poll from the University of Connecticut that shows that nine out of 10 Americans say they won't go shopping on Thanksgiving and seven plan to visit stores. That same poll finds that 49 percent disapprove, only 60 percent -- 16 percent approve of stores staying open for business on Thanksgiving Day. Are you going to get any penalty from Sears for doing this?

CASSIANO: They've already spoke about taking away bonuses for the rest of the year. To me, I'm going to make a stand for what I believe is right because I believe that the people of the United States are standing here with me. We've received a great amount of support from the area community and actually all across America. I had calls yesterday from Illinois, Ohio, from all over. So it's been very wonderful to see the public, you know, standing here with us on this issue.

SCIUTTO: Well, it is -- you know, times are tough, business is slow, the economy growing not as quickly as we'd like. Are you losing money by making this decision?

CASSIANO: Well, of course we are. But you know what? When are we going to say it's not about the money? When are we going to stand up for what's right? How are we, as Americans, going to allow corporate heads to rule over us? It's just -- it bothers me really bad that they're allowing -- this country is allowing them to dictate time away from our family.

SCIUTTO: I'm sure there are a lot of Americans that agree with you on that. Now, I know Massachusetts, neighboring New Hampshire, has laws -- so-called blue laws that prevent stores from opening on Thanksgiving. New Hampshire does not but I understand you're going to try to change that.

CASSIANO: Yes. So, my hope for this, now that I got the media's attention, I want everyone that believes that this -- that I'm doing the right thing to stand up and sign my petition on Change.org. It's listed as retailers to be closed on Thanksgiving. And allow the lawmakers to know that we're serious about this issue. They need to set precedent in the United States of America to say this is unacceptable. Stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, so people can enjoy time with their families.

SCIUTTO: Well, good for you. Holly Cassiano, making a stand for the holiday and for staying home. Thanks very much for joining us by Skype. To be clear, CNN has reached out to Sears for a statement but has not heard back yet. They did tell our affiliate WHDH, however, that we have encouraged all of our dealers and franchises to be open Thanksgiving evening because we believe that is what many consumers want.

Well, one thing that would make the White House really thankful is a meeting, a self-imposed deadline for the Obamacare Web site. But will that happen? Find out about new delays straight ahead in a live report.

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SCIUTTO: The latest Obama care deadline is less than 36 hours away. By Saturday, healthcare.gov is supposed to be running smoothly, accessible to the vast majority of Americans, says the White House. Tech teams are racing to build a workaround for the dysfunctional website. Jill Dougherty joins us now from the White House.

So are they going to make that deadline? I know the White House has been concerned about pushing too much traffic to it over the weekend.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they think they will, but you know, again, Jim, they're not saying that this is some magical fix because there will be problems continuing. But they say they hope they can get it up with the help of those teams, up to speed, and be able to take care of the majority of people who sign on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): With just two days to go before a self- imposed deadline to get the Obamacare website working right, another delay. The Obama administration now says that healthcare.gov won't be able to enroll small businesses for another year after promising this, too, would be ready.

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: Will the shop website for small businesses that was delayed be fully functional during November?

MARILYN TAVENNER, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: Yes, we will institute the shop component at the end of November.

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): Republicans quick to pounce on the administration for announcing another delay, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor charging, "Once again, President Obama has unilaterally delayed another major portion of Obamacare and, once again, he's tried to bury bad news around a holiday, hoping nobody will notice."

Small businesses shopping for health care will be able to use direct enrollment with an insurer, agent or a broker. But during a conference call with reporters, the administration was downplaying overall expectations.

JULIE BATAILLE, CMS SPOKESWOMAN: To be clear, November 30th does not represent a relaunch of healthcare.gov. It is not a magical date. DOUGHERTY (voice-over): The spokeswoman admits there will be times after November 30th when the website does not function properly. Programmers still have a lot of work to do.

The goal: make sure it can handle 50,000 users at one time, yet there might be times when demand exceeds that. And consumers will be directed to a virtual waiting line.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: And so what they're really trying to do, Jim, obviously, is get this to the point that it can be used by as many people as possible.

But what they're worried about is, let's say next week when it perhaps catches on as it did in October, that they might be overwhelmed. So, that again, is they're trying to be ready for that. It's kind of a -- you can say a good problem in a way because people apparently are interested in doing it; it's just can they actually get onto the site?

SCIUTTO: Well, it's going to be a tense Saturday, as that deadline approaches, but we have a break today, Thanksgiving.

How are the Obamas spending Thanksgiving?

DOUGHERTY: Well, we just got notice from the White House that President Obama called members of the military; he phoned up two members of the Army, two from the Marine Corps, from the Navy, from the Air Force and the Coast Guard, wished them a happy Thanksgiving and also thanked them very much for their service.

And then also, Jim, we got I think probably the most interesting news flash today, which is what is on the menu for the family here, the first family. And it's your traditional turkey and ham.

But the dessert menu, I think there's -- notice there are nine, count them, nine different pies, everything from huckleberry to sweet potato, apple pie, pumpkin pie, of course. And then one of my favorites, coconut cream pie. So I'm presuming that Michelle Obama's get fit, let's move, anti-obesity plan is on the table at least for -- until tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Not exactly light eating, nine kinds of pie.

Do we know how many people are around the table?

Does everybody get their own pie? How does this work?

DOUGHERTY: You know, we haven't heard. But it is I think notable. I'm not quite sure what is the significance of these nine pies but we'll try to find out.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's funny; we were just talking yesterday about how President Clinton and Gore have a vegan diet now. This looks like a very non-vegan diet for Thanksgiving. But thanks very much, Jill Dougherty, at the White House today. Happy Thanksgiving. A town torn apart by a tornado, but as they rebuild, they're giving thanks today just for health, good friends and their fighting spirit. We'll take you there live next.

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SCIUTTO: This isn't a typical Thanksgiving for thousands of people in the Midwest; in fact, it's a very difficult one and here's why.

You may remember this is what happened to their neighborhoods when a line of tornadoes ripped through almost two weeks ago, eight people were killed, about 200 were hurt and more than 1,400 homes were damaged or destroyed.

The town of Washington, Illinois, was hit especially hard but despite their losses, survivors say they have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving day.

Our own Ted Rowlands is in Washington, Illinois.

Ted, in the midst of this, just two weeks ago, we saw that devastation. How do they manage to celebrate the holiday today, despite all that?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, you know, as you said, only one fatality here in Washington, and they do have a lot to be thankful for. But by the same token, Thanksgiving, typically you associate with home; you're in someone's home, either your home or a relative's home and it's a family time where you spend a lot of time in that home.

And you look behind here, it's just overwhelming. You've got 1,000- plus homes that have been completely demolished, so many people displaced. And it has been under two weeks. This is a real reminder for these folks, really a reminder of the new reality of their life.

You can see they're out working here. This is a volunteer group called Samaritan's Purse. They've been out here working all morning long, people volunteering, coming here from around the region, people from Chicago, Iowa, volunteering their weekend.

Another thing to be thankful for, the bottom line is, this has been an incredible shock to this community. Yesterday there was a wonderful event here in Washington, hundreds of people got together, had a pre- Thanksgiving meal and they talked about how thankful they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN DUBOIS, TORNADO VICTIM: All of a sudden, everything's taken away and you just don't know what direction to move in. Having little things like this, the ability to get together with this community, it's just powerful. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just so thankful to be alive. And all of the people that have been so wonderful, like this, and people have come to help, people have brought food.

REP. AARON SCHOCK (R), ILL.: This Thanksgiving lunch is really about reminding people about what they should be thankful for, which is life, health, one another. The physical assets, while it's been devastating to lose them, we can rebuild those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And Jim, a few other planned events today starting up in the next hour, people, survivors, coming together to celebrate Thanksgiving as a community.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's something to smile about there.

So where are they staying? We saw them getting together to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Are they staying in friends' houses, shelters? How do they manage?

ROWLANDS: Well, amazingly, the overwhelming majority of people have been able to locate with family or friends, whether it's in the Washington area or they've had to move out to family members that live outside of this area.

According to local officials here, literally, only a handful of people have needed assistance finding a place to stay. There has been a ton of community support for these folks which is another reason for them to be thankful today with all of this work ahead of them over the next few months and years.

SCIUTTO: Yes, incredible, the true spirit of Thanksgiving. Thanks very much to our own Ted Rowlands right there in the midst of it all in Washington, Illinois.

Giving back at Thanksgiving, we'll take you live to Los Angeles next for a holiday tradition with the homeless.

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SCIUTTO: So first it's the turkey, then it's the stuffing -- of the shopping cart, that is. Black Friday starts a day earlier this year for many major retailers.