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American Morning
Kmart to Close 284 Stores; New Gadgets to Make Life Easier
Aired March 08, 2002 - 09:34 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Piece of breaking news. Kmart has announced that they are going to close 284 stores and layoff about 9 percent of their 250,000 employees. The store closings will happen in 40 of the 50 states and in Puerto Rico. There are 2,100 Kmarts in all, but they're going to close 284 of them. The company in financial straits and struggling to keep that blue light special going on.
Andy Serwer, also known as "Inspector Gadget," also known as the editor-at-large of "Fortune" Magazine, brought a bunch of toys to the set this morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.
CAFFERTY: What have you got?
SERWER: Well, we've got all kinds of goodies here, Jack, to look at. Let's start off here with my personal favorite, and I'll tell you why in a second. The "Now You Can Find It!" It's a locator -- there we go, you can see it a little better. This is for people like myself, Jack, who constantly are losing their remotes because of little children and big children around the house throwing it under pillows.
CAFFERTY: Can you attach one of those...
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: ...like to the cat?
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: That's a good one. All right. This is how this works. You put this little gizmo here on a remote.
CAFFERTY: Right.
SERWER: Or, say, on a set of keys. Whoops! Hang on. We've got to interrupt this for a second.
This is another one we've got going here. This is the vibrating alarm clock. I call this a tickler.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Yes, well.
SERWER: This is actually -- this is actually -- I think it started originally for people who are hard of hearing. But you can see here, feel that, Jack.
CAFFERTY: A lot of possibilities for that.
SERWER: Yes, absolutely. But what you do -- this is actually good -- this might be good for you because it won't wake up a sleeping spouse. You get up at 2:30, 3:00 in the morning and come here and do the show. Won't wake your wife up. Just tuck this in your pocket. It's kind of a nice way to wake up in the morning. Right?
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: Or not. The tickler.
CAFFERTY: I ain't going there then.
SERWER: All right. Okay. Let's not go near that. Let's get back here to the locator. I'm going to put these keys here. Tuck them right -- just put them down here.
CAFFERTY: Put them right there.
SERWER: Yes. All right. Let's try that. And we're going to hide the remote, maybe under here, and we're going to try to find some of these things. First of all, where are my keys? I can't get the car going this morning.
(BEEPING)
SERWER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Okay, you got that.
CAFFERTY: But this isn't beeping. That is.
SERWER: No that -- well, I'm finding them though. See, you got them. All right. Now we'll do this one. Ready. No, that's beeping.
CAFFERTY: Put you knew they were in my pocket.
SERWER: All right. We'll set -- we're going to hide them better next time from you.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Of course you knew how to...
SERWER: You're not playing along here. Come on, Jack.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: All right. This one may be nearer and dearer. I'm not going to -- well, we'll find out. Actually, this is handy dandy little -- your own personal breathlizer. Okay.
CAFFERTY: Uh-oh.
SERWER: Yes. This is if you go out on the town with the guys or the gals.
CAFFERTY: That's not a bad idea.
SERWER: Actually, it is a good idea.
CAFFERTY: You're debating whether you should get behind the wheel of the car?
SERWER: You simply wait 15 minutes after your last cocktail, and put it in here and -- I'm not familiar with it. Are -- you know how that...
CAFFERTY: Never taken one, thank you.
SERWER: Blow in apparently. I was going to bring a bottle of Wild Turkey on the set and take a few slugs and test drive it. But...
CAFFERTY: I'm glad that...
SERWER: Anyway, this is from the Sharper Image...
CAFFERTY: Glad wisdom got the better of you on that.
SERWER: Yes. That's from the Sharper Image, as well as the "Now You Can Find It!" This "Now You Can Find It!" locator, apparently, is a real hot seller.
CAFFERTY: Are these things expensive, this stuff?
SERWER: This one is $50.
CAFFERTY: What's that breathlizer go for?
SERWER: This one also -- this one is $30, as a matter of fact.
CAFFERTY: Oh, that's not that much.
SERWER: No, these things are affordable and I think, completely necessary to live in these times.
CAFFERTY: What about the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the vibrator?
SERWER: That's $20. The vibe -- the tickler?
CAFFERTY: Vibrator.
SERWER: The vibrating clock.
CAFFERTY: It's a vibrator.
SERWER: It's a tick -- yes -- it's a vibrating clock, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Still to come. Thank you, Andy. Have a good weekend.
SERWER: You too.
CAFFERTY: I'll see you Monday.
SERWER: Okay.
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