Coverage: Thanksgiving — All about the deals, not the turkey

Black Friday has become synonymous with madness and with the National Retail Federation projecting 135.8 million shoppers hitting the stores and online this weekend, it’s not going away anytime soon.

And in order to better thrive off the consumer frenzy, some stores are pushing their luck and transitioning Black Friday more onto Thanksgiving Day itself.

Drew Fitzgerald of The Wall Street Journal wrote about the pressure smaller mall-based stores feel to open early on Thanksgiving Day:

More small retailers will be open for business on Thanksgiving Day—and they may not have a choice in the matter.

While most department stores set their own hours, the small shops that line mall hallways tend to follow their landlords’ lead, industry executives say. Mall owners in turn take their cues from “anchor” chains like J.C. Penney Co. and Macy’s Inc., which have made it clear that opening Thursday evening is the new tradition. J.C. Penney plans to open most of its stores starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, while Macy’s will open at 6 p.m.

Mall owners consider it “imperative for retailers and restaurants to be open” on Thanksgiving, said Anjee Solanki, national director of retail services for Colliers International Group Inc., a real-estate-services firm. “This is when they can capture as much foot [traffic] as possible and drive future business with specials for the following month. Every tenant must adhere to the hours for uniformity.”

Stores that break mall hours can be subject to steep fines and other consequences, retail and real-estate executives say.

“Merchants are required to open at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 26th, (Thanksgiving Day) until closing at midnight,” said one letter from the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord, Calif. “All merchants have the option of remaining open midnight through 5:00 a.m. if they choose.”

A spokeswoman for mall landlord Taubman Centers Inc. said eight of its other properties will stay closed on Thanksgiving, but not Sunvalley.

“History has shown that Sunvalley shoppers come out on Thanksgiving so we continue to open on the holiday to please them,” the spokeswoman, Maria Mainville, said. “We ask that all in-line stores open so our customers have a consistent shopping experience.”

Sapna Maheshwari of BuzzFeed explained how opening stores on Thanksgiving even began:

It took only five years for Thanksgiving to stop being a day off for retail workers.

As opening at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday becomes the standard for America’s biggest retail chains, it’s worth noting how recently and swiftly Black Friday took over this cherished national holiday. Americans were protesting midnight openings on Thanksgiving as recently as 2011 — just four years later, J.C. Penney is opening at 3 p.m. on Thursday, while RadioShack holds its “Black Friday sale” on Wednesday and opens again on Thursday morning. Kmart will open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving and remain open for 42 hours straight — and no, 42 hours is not a typo.

“The retailer strategy for as long as there’s been retail is you want to be the first thing in the cart,” Marcie Merriman, a retail strategy and consumer engagement consultant at Ernst & Young, said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. “If you wait until later, there’s the risk that you’re going to miss the boat … I think that’s what drove them from going from Fridays to Thursdays.”

While REI got plenty of praise for announcing its stores will stay closed on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, and chains like GameStop and TJX choose to give employees the holiday off, that’s not the reality for hundreds of thousands of retail workers.

Kathryn Brown of WRAL described how some companies are going against the grain and not opening on Thanksgiving Day at all:

Retail experts are calling it a reverse trend. A number of stores including REI, Nordstrom, Marshalls and Costo decided to scrap the tradition to start Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving.

“I think that’s a good idea.” said shopper David Wicker. “Thanksgiving should be with your family.”

But while retailers are hoping to curry some goodwill among shoppers for staying shuttered on the holiday, they are also focused on the bottom line.

According to the National Retail Federation, last year shoppers spent six percent less than the year before during the four-day Thanksgiving shopping weekend, despite stores opening earlier than ever.

“I work in a store, and I also want the day off,” said Debra Alford. “I don’t have the day off. I’ve got to work as well.”

Earlier this month, Target announced it will open its doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, the same time as last year. Target and rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began opening on Thanksgiving three years ago to better compete with online retailers and other competitors.

Other companies that have already announced plans to open on Thanksgiving include toy seller Toys R Us and department store chains Macy Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp.

But as more people spend Thanksgiving hooked to their smartphones, fewer feel the need to leave their house to shop. Analysts predict online shopping will grow an additional 6 to 8 percent this year as deals start earlier in the week.