How Early is Too Early for Retailers to Open on Black Friday?
Sears and Walmart plan to open at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, while Target plans a 9 p.m. opening.
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Retail workers and shoppers are once again pushing stores to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day instead of starting Black Friday on Thursday, as many plan to do.
This year, Target will launch its Black Friday sale at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, while Sears and Walmart have announced plans to open at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, Best Buy is continuing the midnight openings it started last year.
Critics say Thanksgiving Day openings prevent employees from spending the holiday with their families. Opposition is growing on online petition website Change.org. “C Renee,” a woman who says she’s been a Target employee for six years, started a petition asking the retailer to “give Thanksgiving back to families and not open on Thanksgiving evening.”
“I have worked at Target for six years and I really enjoy my job,” she wrote. “Thanksgiving, though, is one of the three days us retail workers get off a year: a day most all of us spend with family we only get to see on that day.”
The petition so far has more than 150,000 signatures.
The signatures don’t appear to have had much effect. Last year, more than 200,000 people signed another petition from a Target employee.
But what do you think? Should stores open on Thanksgiving Day? Should they open early on Black Friday? Or should they just stick to regular store hours?
Vote in Patch’s poll and then share your thoughts in the comments below.
mary helmbrecht
9:13 am on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
I think we should leave holidays to families. There is no reason stores have to open on Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays. Employees should be allowed to have that time with their families as anyone else. As a nurse I worked holidays and weekends but that is to be expected and a necessary part of the profession I chose but shopping is not detrimental to anyone. Just because retailers want to make that extra buck. We need to get back to some of our long lost values in this country!
KENNETH TOENJES
11:16 am on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
HELLO I AGREE I WORK AT WALGREENS I SEE NO REASON TO BE OPEN YOU CAN BUY THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT AT 300 PM WHY WAIT TILL 300 AM NO MATTER HOW EARLY STORES OPEN IT STILL DOES NOT GET DONE
Reginald C.
2:13 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Say goodbye to Thanksgiving! I remember when I was in school, maybe around 1st or 2nd grade, I had my picture taken of the turkey I made out of construction paper. I have a sinking feeling that when I have grandchildren, in another 20 yrs, they will have their picture taken in 1st or 2nd grade with Black Friday circulars. So sad!
Dennis Holman
1:20 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012
Free enterprise is one of the foundational principles upon which this great nation was built. There is no reason to even ask the question. Stores should be permitted to set their own hours. Employees are free to choose whether or not they want to work for an employer that maintains those hours, and consumers can decide whether or not to shop during those hours.