‘Tis the season – for hundreds of newspaper articles that start out “’tis the season” and for retailers to try to lure you with ever earlier holiday sales. Christmas displays were up at some stores before Halloween. And not only do stores promote Black Friday, some open before the turkey is cold on Thanksgiving Day.
Not REI. It announced recently that it’s opting out of Black Friday, closing all of its stores on the day when we traditionally give our credit cards their biggest workout. REI is encouraging its employees and would-be shoppers to “#OptOutside” instead – a nice idea that probably sounds better in parts of the country where you can go outside on Thanksgiving weekend without getting wet.
In our latest poll at HeraldNet.com, we asked if you think other retailers should follow REI’s lead and close on Black Friday. An overwhelming 88 percent said “Yes, I’ll support businesses that treat employees well.”
Only 12 percent disapproved, with 7 percent saying they prefer the traditional Black Friday shopping madness. The other 5 percent said other retailers should follow REI’s lead “only if they want to go out of business,” presumably adding “Humbug!” as they clicked the button.
We’ve established most of you find REI’s actions admirable, but will you put your money where your vote is? If you really want retailers to give everyone a day off, you’re going to have to prove it. Resist the siren’s song of a doorbuster deal on that sweet new TV. Eschew the 24-hours-only savings on that Xbox the kids have been begging for.
Unless we turn shopping malls into ghost towns on Black Friday, they’ll never believe it. Aside from REI, major retailers show no sign of scaling back. They’ll be open for business as usual, lest we #OptToShopAtTheCompetition.
— Doug Parry, @parryracer
For our next poll, we’d like you to give us your opinion on bacon and its health risks.
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