Shoppers will have fewer hours to spare this Thanksgiving between eating turkey and gobbling up holiday sales.
What’s open when |
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Thursday • 6 a.m.: Kmart is open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thanksgiving day. • 7 a.m.: Big Lots is open until 8 p.m. • 9 a.m.: Old Navy (Alderwood location) is open until 8 p.m. • 4 p.m.: Michael’s is open until 10 p.m. • 9 p.m.: Toys R Us; roughly 11 stores, including Carter’s, Bass and Under Armour, at the Seattle Premium Outlets. • 10 p.m.: Wal-Mart begins its sales; more than 60 stores at Seattle Premium Outlets, including Calvin Klein, Famous Footwear, PacSun and Nike open. Friday • Midnight: Kohl’s, Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Old Navy, more than 25 Alderwood mall retailers, 10 Everett Mall stores. • 4 a.m.: JCPenney, Sears • 5 a.m.: Alderwood mall, Kmart, Fred Meyer, Michael’s • 6 a.m.: Everett Mall, Big Lots |
That’s because retailers are opening up their doors earlier than ever, with some sales kicking off Thursday evening or at midnight. Big-box stores such as Target and Best Buy have moved up their Friday openings to midnight, while Toys R Us and Wal-Mart start their sales earlier Thursday night.
“It’s no longer Black Friday; it’s going to be Black Thanksgiving from here on out,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at research firm NPD Group. “Retailers recognize the importance of being convenient, and one of those conveniences is opening earlier so people don’t have to wait in line at 4 in the morning in the cold.”
Shopping centers and large retailers here in Snohomish County will follow suit. In past years, Tulalip’s Seattle Premium Outlets have been one of the earlier centers to open at midnight. But this year, the majority of shops at the outlet mall will be open by 10 p.m. Thursday.
Although the Alderwood and Everett malls don’t open until 5 and 6 a.m., respectively, dozens of stores within both shopping centers will open at midnight. Again this year, Alderwood will offer a $20 mall gift card to shoppers who spend $150 or more Friday at stores throughout the mall. Shoppers just have to take their receipts to the redemption zone.
“We fully expect to see excited shoppers as early as midnight at stores around the country, as many holiday shoppers would rather stay up all night to take advantage of retailers’ Black Friday deals rather than set their alarm to wake up the next morning,” Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, said in a statement.
Nearly 152 million people are expected to shop Black Friday weekend, which includes Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to a survey conducted for the retail federation. More than half of those people, 81 million, will be out in force Friday.
Retailers’ expanded shopping hours have drawn criticism from store employees and their families. Employees from Target and Best Buy have created online petitions to push those companies to open later on Friday.
Still, people who don’t want to interrupt their Thanksgiving celebration or don’t want to shop in the middle of the night won’t miss out completely on retailers’ deals. Beside honoring some of the early hour sales online, most major retailers will offer special deals online Monday. And local small business owners will try to attract consumers on Nov. 26 for Small Business Saturday.
McClatchy news service contributed to this report.
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