Rebellious retailers are fighting to halt the reverse creep of Black Friday into Thanksgiving Day.
Stores clamoring for more shopping days during the gift-giving season began infringing on the holiday a decade ago, and now most of the biggest retailers open their doors on Thursday. Among them are Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kmart Corp., Toys ‘R’ Us Inc., Best Buy Co., Target Corp., and Macy’s Inc. That means a sizable chunk of the almost 5 million retail salespeople in the U.S. are forced to work on the holiday.
But there are those who refuse, like video game seller GameStop Corp., bookstore Barnes & Noble Inc., and discount clothing shop TJ Maxx.
Perhaps the loudest critic of Thanksgiving openings in recent years has been outdoor retailer Recreational Equipment Inc., which will close its 149 stores for the second straight year on both the holiday and Black Friday. REI CEO Jerry Stritzke has repeatedly blasted retailers that choose not to cede the holiday, saying he “hates to see that kind of decision” and hopes that the “vast majority” of stores will change their mind.
Mall of America, the most famous mall in the nation, decided to give its 1,200 workers in Bloomington, Minn., the day off this Thanksgiving in an effort to “give the holiday back” to employees, executives announced. The mall will open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday instead. There are more than 500 stores inside the mall, and while they’re free to stay open if they wish, they will do so without the mall’s staff.
