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American Morning
Many Happy Returns, Discounts Today
Aired December 26, 2001 - 08:42 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a scene played out every Christmas. You open a gift and you say, "oh, honey, you shouldn't have," and you really meant it.
If you try to return that unfortunate gift today, well, you'll have plenty of company there in line.
CNN's Jeff Flock is with the masses in Schaumburg, Illinois, outside of Chicago. He has very diplomatically put the sweaters he doesn't like in the live truck.
Jeff, what are you seeing ...
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I may be ...
O'BRIEN: ... and who are you talking to?
FLOCK: ... wearing one, I think. I'm wearing one of these.
Actually, miles of aisles, this morning, Miles. We're at the Sears store here in Schaumburg, Illinois. This is Woodfield Mall, which they tell us, I think it may be Illinois' biggest tourist attraction.
Lots of stores here, and today, lots of discounting here. You know, I've been talking to a lot of folks that come out early.
Some people do it by tradition, and I've got a family here from -- now, where is it you're from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joplin, Missouri.
FLOCK: Joplin, Missouri. And they've come here to Chicago. This is a tradition to come out day after Christmas, and what are you finding?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great sales. We're really happy about it.
FLOCK: I was going to say, you've got a lot of these, a lot of these little tickets, here. And I don't know if Bruce is able to see them, but we've got these little cards here, which are 30 percent off, 40 percent off.
There's a lot of discounting. And you do this a lot, so you know what this is like.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. We always make it a tradition to give our children the money for Christmas. And then they come out and find their own bargains.
FLOCK: Okay, so a little extra kick for the economy, there. So we appreciate it. Looks like she's picked out a couple of things there.
And I've got some other expert shoppers up here. I don't know. Somebody's got their eye on a couple of -- oh, you've got a couple of things here.
Are you also a traditional day-after-Christmas shopper?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.
FLOCK: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. We always take our vacation right after Christmas so we can try to get some of the best buys.
FLOCK: I've got to ask you, did you spend more this year, less this year? Do you have a sense for it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think we spent more this year.
FLOCK: Did you really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit more, not a whole lot, but ...
FLOCK: And you're ready to spend even more today, it appears. What have you got there? Is that a good bargain?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, 30 percent off.
FLOCK: That's 30 percent off. And just, let's -- give us a sense. Where's the ticket on that one? Let's see how much they want for that. Twenty-nine dollars and 30 percent off of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very good.
FLOCK: OK. And how about you? You got something picked out ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I've got ...
FLOCK: ... here, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... something here, too. Yeah.
FLOCK: Did you? What have you got?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got a top, here, and extra 30 percent off. So, we're just shopping away, looking for bargains today in the mall.
FLOCK: So there may be a little extra kick for the economy ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh ...
FLOCK: ... still out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... yeah, yes, I think so, especially with us.
FLOCK: Good deal. All right. Well, we will continue to watch that throughout this day.
As we said, a lot of tickets out there -- 30, 40, 50 percent off. You look at the Tribune this morning -- I picked up the "Chicago Tribune" this morning, Sachs is 40 or 50 percent off, Bloomingdale's. Big full-page ads.
So, it's going to be a big day out at the mall, at least they hope so.
We'll watch it, Miles. That's the latest. Back to you.
O'BRIEN: Jeff, it's 7:45 there. These people are up awfully early. I assume we're looking at the real diehards right now.
FLOCK: Well, you call them diehards. I don't know. You must be early risers, right? Are you early risers, anyway?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I woke up at 5:15 this morning to get ready to come here.
FLOCK: Call them what you will, Miles.
O'BRIEN: That's the definition of diehard, I think.
All right, I suspect it'll be busy if they're out this early already.
All right. Jeff Flock, we'll check in with you as the day progresses and the crowds fill out.
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