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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Kmart: Not So Many Blue Lights Dimming
Aired November 19, 2002 - 08:49 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: So the big news, though, that everyone is talking about, is Kmart. A lot of people suggesting the other day they were going to have to close down as many as 500 stores. Obviously that retailer is struggling in chapter 11. But a very interesting point here. They also talked about, of course, Martha Stewart, and they said that Martha's stuff is selling very well. But a very interesting quote from the CEO, James Adamson. He said, "We're very encouraged that people are separating Martha Stewart Living the brand from Martha Stewart the personality. We continue to try to separate the two." How about that? How would you like your partner to say that about you?
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We like your product, but we're not real spleesed with you.
SERWER: We just want you to stay away from us, please.
But it's interesting, last Christmas, Kmart did really badly, and that's what threw them into chapter 11 on January 22nd of this year. Again, very critical for them.
HEMMER: Let's talk about the job market right now. Seasonal jobs tend to come into play right now during the holidays. The outlook now is what?
SERWER: It's not so good. I mean, this maybe isn't such a big surprise. A new study out this morning suggesting that part-time help, which is a very important component of the economy, Bill, a lot of students look to get these jobs over the holiday season, pick up a little pocket change, holiday forecasts now 20 to 25 percent less jobs will be out there in terms of these seasonal jobs; 65 percent of firms expect to hire fewer holiday workers.
HEMMER: That is not a good harbinger.
SERWER: I was in a store just last week asking people how sales were going, and they said, we will truly know how our season does the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is about, what, nine days away?
ZAHN: That's absolutely correct. And of course, we talked about this before, but there are six fewer shopping days this holiday season just because of the way that Thanksgiving falls. So that's going to make things even tougher, as if these stores needed that. But that's the way it goes.
SERWER: Thank you, Drew.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Dimming>
Aired November 19, 2002 - 08:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: So the big news, though, that everyone is talking about, is Kmart. A lot of people suggesting the other day they were going to have to close down as many as 500 stores. Obviously that retailer is struggling in chapter 11. But a very interesting point here. They also talked about, of course, Martha Stewart, and they said that Martha's stuff is selling very well. But a very interesting quote from the CEO, James Adamson. He said, "We're very encouraged that people are separating Martha Stewart Living the brand from Martha Stewart the personality. We continue to try to separate the two." How about that? How would you like your partner to say that about you?
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We like your product, but we're not real spleesed with you.
SERWER: We just want you to stay away from us, please.
But it's interesting, last Christmas, Kmart did really badly, and that's what threw them into chapter 11 on January 22nd of this year. Again, very critical for them.
HEMMER: Let's talk about the job market right now. Seasonal jobs tend to come into play right now during the holidays. The outlook now is what?
SERWER: It's not so good. I mean, this maybe isn't such a big surprise. A new study out this morning suggesting that part-time help, which is a very important component of the economy, Bill, a lot of students look to get these jobs over the holiday season, pick up a little pocket change, holiday forecasts now 20 to 25 percent less jobs will be out there in terms of these seasonal jobs; 65 percent of firms expect to hire fewer holiday workers.
HEMMER: That is not a good harbinger.
SERWER: I was in a store just last week asking people how sales were going, and they said, we will truly know how our season does the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is about, what, nine days away?
ZAHN: That's absolutely correct. And of course, we talked about this before, but there are six fewer shopping days this holiday season just because of the way that Thanksgiving falls. So that's going to make things even tougher, as if these stores needed that. But that's the way it goes.
SERWER: Thank you, Drew.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Dimming>
