Retailers Close on Thanksgiving Day to Reject ‘Gray Thursday’ Trend
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Bikeworldtravel/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — With more retailers electing to open their doors on Thanksgiving Day 2013 to present early Black Friday deals, the moniker “gray Thursday” is starting to take its place among the shopper’s lexicon.
To get an early start on Black Friday deals, Best Buy and Walmart are opening their doors at 6 p.m. Thursday, while Macy’s, Target, JCPenney, Kohl’s and Sears will welcome shoppers to its brick and mortar stores at 8 p.m.
Earliest of all, Kmart, which is owned by Sears Holdings, made it onto Consumer Reports’ list of 10 companies on its “naughty” list for boasting about opening at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning and staying open for 41 hours straight.
In its defense, Kmart said it has been open on Thanksgiving Day for 22 years and that it extended hours based on feedback from its Shop Your Way members.
“We understand many associates want to spend time with their families during the holiday,” the company said. “With this in mind Kmart stores do their very best to staff with seasonal associates and those who are needed to work holidays. All associates who work on Thanksgiving are compensated with holiday pay.”
But despite the frenzied competition, many national chains are choosing to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day despite retailers’ claims that shoppers tell them they prefer to have more hours to shop.
Nordstrom wrote on its Facebook page, “We won’t be decking our halls” until Black Friday because “we like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time.”
Appliance store P.C. Richard & Son published ads in some newspapers with the words, “Save Thanksgiving.”
Trader Joe’s, Burlington Coat Factory, TJ Maxx, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco, Home Depot, Dillards, and Marshall’s are among the other companies that chose to stay closed this “Gray Thursday.”
Among the other terms that describe this busy consumer week are Small Business Saturday, launched by American Express in 2010, Cyber Monday for online deals, and Giving Tuesday, endorsed by nonprofits to encourage households to give time or money to charity.
Giving Tuesday is not an antidote to the busy holiday shopping days, but complements them, said a spokeswoman for the movement.
The movement began last year and is headed by the United Nations. Last year, more than 2,500 partners were involved in fundraising and volunteer initiatives. This year, there are about 7,200 organizations involved in Giving Tuesday.
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