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CNN Saturday Morning News
Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers Crowd Malls
Aired December 22, 2001 - 09:45 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Christmas clock is ticking away for lots of people, me being one of them. The shopping frenzy shifting now from high gear into overdrive.
CNN's Brian Palmer is with some shoppers this morning at a mall in Manhattan.
Hi, Brian. Do you have all your shopping done?
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I've actually finished my Christmas shopping, Leon, but we are indeed live in the heart of Manhattan at the Manhattan Mall. The doors opened a little less than an hour ago, and we haven't exactly seen a frenzy of shopping yet, which is precisely what retailers need to really rescue a dismal shopping year.
There are a lot of surveys out there, a lot of studies out there, but the data seem to be saying one thing, that sales are slower this year. One study by Telecheck is saying that the sales are up by about 1 percent -- 1.8 percent, and other studies saying they're down, so it's really not a great year.
But we're actually joined by some real shoppers this morning, the Sean (ph) family from Philadelphia. They're doing a little bit of light shopping this morning.
What are you folks out here looking for today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, actually just for any bargains, which you're not going to get, I guess, in Manhattan. Everything's expensive. But we're trying to. So we came out early in the morning to see whatever -- you know, just shop around, be in the city, for the kids, for the holiday, see if we can take them to any shows, any good restaurants, just walking down the street, we just see monuments of Manhattan that we're, like, Hey, look, there's Macy's, look, there's Manhattan, that's Times Square. We don't even know the address. Just by walking around, we just see all these nice, you know, world-famous monuments.
PALMER: So this is kind of a sort of a travel, discovery trip for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. Just so we could go brag, say, so we could go brag, say, Hey, we were in Manhattan around Christmas time.
PALMER: Now, would you mind if I asked you guys a couple of questions? Let's see, you first. No, yes, maybe? What are you looking for this holiday season?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: CDs.
PALMER: What kind of CDs?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (OFF-MIKE)
PALMER: She's not allowed Britney Spears. OK. Other than Britney Spears, what are we talking about here?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I like Christina Muller (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about movies? How about shows?
PALMER: OK, movie shows.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, we went to Christmas spectacular in Radio City last night.
PALMER: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to probably go to "Lion King," or are we going to see "Jimmy Neutron" tonight?
PALMER: Wow. Well, thank you very much, the Sean family. We're going to let them go and continue their shopping.
Retailers, again, are really hoping for a wave, a surge of shoppers to come in here to this mall, simply because they generally make between about 20 and 30 percent of their profits, of their sales, during the holiday season. So it really is kind of a make-or-break proposition -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. And it's early now, let's see what it looks like later on throughout the day out there. Thanks, Brian. Brian Palmer in New York.
PALMER: Thank you.
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