Some Retailers Starting the Holiday Shopping Season on Thanksgiving Day
Some retailers starting the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving Day
By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff 11.14.16
NEW YORK, N.Y. — Thanksgiving Day shopping is a horror to some, but a delight to others. It is not going away anytime soon. However, some stores are questioning whether it makes sense to be open on the holiday itself.
Many of the nation's biggest stores, such as Toys R Us, J.C. Penney and Macy's, are sticking with what they want to be a new custom: kicking off the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving Day.
Closing On Thanksgiving Makes Business Sense
Other stores are closing for Thanksgiving this year after being open for the past several years. Some that are closing say they are doing so out of respect for the holiday. However, in many cases the reason may be economic. The cost of being open can be more than the return.
Stephen Lebovitz is president of CBL, which is closing 72 of its malls for the day. "More retailers are coming to their senses and realizing it is a family holiday," he said. "From a business point of view, it's not making much business sense" to remain open.
It first became common to have stores open on Thanksgiving in 2011. However, the new shopping day took the punch out of sales on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which had usually launched the shopping season.
Employees Unhappy About Working On Holiday
Many places like Macy's, Target and J.C. Penney have been opening earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving. Each has been trying to outdo the others in hopes of grabbing customers who could easily buy online. Many workers have not been happy about this, however. They have complained that stores are putting profits over workers' time to be with their families.
Eighty-nine CBL properties opened at 6 p.m. on the holiday last year. Dozens of those will be closed this year, while others have the choice to open on Thanksgiving. Other stores, including Office Depot and electronics chain hhgregg, plan to be closed after being open for the past several years.
Many stores, such as Nordstrom or T.J. Maxx, have never opened on Thanksgiving. For those that have been open, it is all about beating out rivals.
Major Retailers Trying To Increase Sales
Department stores are locked in a fierce struggle. Last year, J.C. Penney opened at 3 p.m. for the first time, three hours earlier than its rivals Kohl's and Macy's. That may have hurt Macy's, which had a weak holiday season. This year, Macy's decided to open an hour earlier at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Penney is sticking to 3 p.m., while Kohl's will be opening again at 6 p.m. Most Sears stores will be open on Thanksgiving for the fourth year in a row, starting at 6 p.m. — the same as a year ago.
Best Buy is the nation's largest electronics chain. It suffered over Thanksgiving weekend in 2012 because it did not open until midnight, while stores like Wal-Mart and Target began their sales earlier in the evening.
Stores that are open on Thanksgiving Day are required to pay their employees extra holiday pay. Many big stores do enough business to make the extra expense worth it. However, for small stores and specialty stores, it may make more sense to close.
Smaller Stores Waiting Until Black Friday
Some stores that did open on Thanksgiving in past years were simply pulling Black Friday sales a day earlier. Bob Riesbeck is president of hhgregg, an electronics chain. He says business on Thanksgiving actually declined after his stores began opening at 4 p.m.
CBL's Lebovitz says when he surveyed stores in the company's malls this year, most were eager to close, in particular the specialty stores. Last year, most of the specialty stores wanted to be open. They did not yet have enough sales information to make a decision, Lebovitz said.
This year, many small stores in CBL malls will be closed. However, the big stores still plan to stay open.
Shopping expert Andy Mantis believes stores should open on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Mantis says the number of customers who shop on both days has declined. At the same time, the number who shop either only on Thanksgiving Day or only on Black Friday has increased.
Mantis believes small stores and specialty stores should think twice about staying closed on Thanksgiving. He says this is especially true if they are near big stores like Macy's that are open.
People who visit the big stores on Thanksgiving Day are already buying, he said. They are not always willing to return to a mall the next day in order to shop at a smaller store that was closed for the holiday.