Black Friday backlash as stores add to Thanksgiving hours
— -- As stores up the ante with earlier holiday hours that creep into Thanksgiving night, Black Friday is turning into Black Thursday, and some shoppers and employees aren't happy about it.
•Toys R Us said Monday that it will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, an hour earlier than last year and the earliest of any retailer so far this year.
•Walmart will open at 10 p.m., two hours ahead of last year's midnight opening.
•Other stores, including Target, Macy's, Best Buy and Kohl's, will open at midnight.
Anthony Hardwick, a cart attendant at a Target in Omaha, started a campaign to protest the decision to open at midnight, four hours earlier than last year. His petition, on Change.org, calls for Target to push its opening to 5 a.m. Friday. The petition had 62,000 signatures as of late Monday.
"With the midnight open, you're going to cut into a lot of people's family time because you have to rest up if you're going to be working overnight," says Hardwick, 29. He says he'll be in bed by 2 or 3 p.m on Thanksgiving.
Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder says the decision to open earlier is due to consumer desire. "We have heard from our guests that they want to shop Target following their Thanksgiving celebrations rather than only having the option of getting up in the middle of the night," she says, adding that the store does its "best to work around the schedules of our team members."
ConsumerSearch.com found in a recent survey of 1,003 people that 87% felt retailers should stay closed on Thanksgiving. "There's definitely a family spirit around Thanksgiving that people don't really want to see adulterated," says Christine Frietchen, editor-in-chief of the site.
Kristi Tolley, a floral designer in Charleston, S.C., agrees.
"Having retail stores open on the holidays has taken away what once was sacred time with loved ones, which is not good for employee morale," she says. "I will not be shopping on Thanksgiving Day. I feel that it is wrong and has gone too far. What's next? Being open on Christmas Day?"
Still, there's a difference between what consumers say, and what they do, says John Long, a retail strategist at consulting firm Kurt Salmon.
"My guess, based on past trends, is we'll see massive amounts of consumers in stores, even at these earlier hours," he says. "If you think about it, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. are more convenient than 4 a.m."
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