Retailers Start Black Friday Sales Early
By Doug Desjardins
The idea of starting Black Friday sales early has caught on this year with more retailers opting to start sales on Thanksgiving Day.
Leading the way is Sears, which will break from a long tradition and open on Thanksgiving for the first time in its 124-year history. The company plans on keeping limited hours - from 7 a.m. to noon - so that employees can still enjoy the holiday with their families.
“Our decision to open on Thanksgiving Day was based on our costumers’ response and desire to have an extra day to shop,” said David Freeman, president of marketing for Sears. “We are always listening to our customers to make their shopping experience easier, and now, by being open on Thanksgiving, they can start their shopping early or do some last minute shopping for items they need for their Thanksgiving celebration.”
Some of the exclusive deals available Thanksgiving morning will include a 19-inch RCA LCD TV for $129 (regular $199) and up to 60 percent off on fine jewelry. Kmart, a division of Sears Holding, will continue its 19-year tradition of being open on Thanksgiving.
Toys “R” Us plans to open on Thanksgiving as well but is taking a different approach. The toy retailer will open at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving night to get an early start on its Black Friday sales. Toys “R” Us CEO Jerry Storch said that “we’re ready to provide customers with more ways to save and more of the hottest toys.” The toy retailer will have 150 door-buster items on sales starting at 10 p.m. and will add another 50 items for the traditional Black Friday sales start-time at 5 a.m. on Friday.
Even Wal-Mart will break with tradition and open stores on Thanksgiving. The company said “Wal-Mart stores will be open on Thanksgiving Day unless it is required to close by a city ordinance.” A few states and cities still have laws on the books that require retailers to close on certain holidays.
Apparel retailers like Old Navy and The Gap plan to open on Thanksgiving as well with limited hours.
But some retailers don’t feel the need to open on Thanksgiving even though competition has heated up in recent years. “We’ve always remained closed on Thanksgiving,” said JC Penney spokesperson Kate Coultas. “We want to respect that our associates will be at the store the next day - all day - on Black Friday so we went want them to have Thanksgiving off.”
There’s also the question of whether enough people will be willing to shop on Thanksgiving to make opening stores worthwhile. “I imagine that if shoppers know there will be some really amazing deals, they will be willing to get up and go see what they can find,” said retail consultant Keven Wilder.
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Sears to Open its Doors on Thanksgiving Day
COUPON TIME
Our section on Early Black Friday Sales has Thanksgiving-Day deals and more!
