The First Alert Acquisition First Alert was the leading manufacturer and marketer of smoke detectors. It sold its products to mass merchants such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Sears; home center and hardware chains such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Builders Square, True Value/Cotter, and Ace Hardware; catalog showrooms such as Service Merchandise; warehouse clubs such as Sam's and Price/Costco; electrical wholesale distributors in the United States; and about 100 independent foreign distributors sup¬plying 500 customers in some 50 countries worldwide. First Alert's principal foreign markets were Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and the Scandinavian countries. Sales to Wal-Mart and Sam's accounted for approximately 15 percent of the company's rev¬enues. First Alert spent about $35 million annually on cooperative, print, radio, and television advertising.