Posted on 11/21/2007 9:59:21 PM PST by Heartofsong83
Retailers focus more on Thanksgiving Day By SAMANTHA BOMKAMP, AP Business Writer 31 minutes ago
NEW YORK - The nation's retailers want shoppers to spend less time eating turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving and more time shopping — whether it's online or on land.
For the second year in a row, CompUSA Inc. and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. are opening their doors on Thanksgiving. The exception are stores in Massachusetts where local laws preclude holiday hours. CompUSA also added an extra incentive for consumers this year by providing pumpkin pie for those in line.
Iconic toy store FAO Schwarz — with locations in New York, Chicago and Las Vegas — is set to open its doors on the holiday as well.
In the past, holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day was limited to discount stores like Kmart and Wal-Mart, as well as grocery retailers and 24-hour convenience stores like 7-Eleven Inc. Kmart, operated by Sears Holdings Corp., is taking it one step further, offering for the first time Thanksgiving Day specials on TVs to GPS systems.
"Some people just can't wait until Friday," said Kirsten Whipple, a Sears spokeswoman. "Thanksgiving dinner is done and they have moved on." Kmart's special Thanksgiving deals include an Olevia 32-inch LCD HDTV for $419.99 and a Magellan GPS system for $129.99.
Ellen Davis, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation, said the Thanksgiving openings may be a way of generating early enthusiasm ahead of a holiday season that's widely expected to be sluggish. Still, she said, no matter how stiff the competition is, for those new in the game, opening on Thanksgiving is still considered a tough decision when weighing employee time off and other factors.
"I think at this point Thanksgiving is still very revered in the retail industry," Davis said. "A lot of retailers just don't want to touch Thursday."
Web shopping is a different matter. More retailers are pushing shoppers to buy online on Thanksgiving, instead of just researching deals for Black Friday, named because it was traditionally when stores became profitable.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which last year offered one or two online specials on Thanksgiving, is offering specials on 20 to 30 products online. CompUSA.com is featuring one-day, online-only sales on Thanksgiving — on products including computers, LCD flat-panel TVs and portable DVD players — and free shipping on certain items.
Amazon.com Inc. held a poll to allow visitors to vote for items they want to see drastically discounted beginning Thursday. The Web site also is offering shipping incentives and other deals spanning the weekend.
Toys "R" Us' site and eToys.com are both featuring a slew of online specials just for Thanksgiving. Toysrus.com is featuring up to 65 percent savings on everything from Matchbox cars to Spider-Man 3 interactive figures, while eToys.com is offering up to 60 percent off on select items.
Don’t know the answers to your questions, but thanks for the thread.
Why not let the market decide? It’s the capitalist way.
Interesting article, as I noted that only one of the major grocery stores
here in Columbia, MO is going to be closed all day on Thanksgiving.
I’m not a bidness person...but couldn’t help but wonder if this is
(partly) a sign of trying to grab as much business as possible.
(With fear of the grocery chains that bad economic times are just
around the corner?)
So you’re saying that only one of the stores is going to be closed. How would they be “grabbing as much business as possible” when they’re closed?
O would think if they are open they are open they are more competative.
I don’t want to go shopping on Thanksgiving. I don’t even want to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Dealing with the crowds is not worth the discounts for me.
Are you kidding me?!? We need a law banning all stores from opening on Thanksgiving!! Course we here in the South know the original Thanksgiving (a full two years before the ridiculous Puritan celebration) was December 4th, not this nonsensical November date
Don’t think so. I went to Walmart tonight. I was expecting a big crowd. It wasn’t bad. Everything seemed higher though. I had to pay almost 5 dollar for a gallon of milk and almost 10 dollars for a big box of eggs. I think it’s about time to buy the cow and the hen.
Family is more important to me than shopping. I hope others will realize this and the stores will close their doors so that those poor employees can be with their families too.
Some get double time and volunteer to work.
Shopping on Thanksgiving day?
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Can the greed really be this strong?
I'm with you 100%. I don't think I could look someone in the eye, working the cash register, as they rang up a cart full of my non-essentials.
This is a trend that shows a lack of recognition towards the plight of others.
Additionally, this is fueled by top level management in retail who believes that adding another day to the Christmas shopping season will increase sales by exactly that amount (If we did 1,000,000 over 30 days last year, we'll do 1,066,666 over the 32 days this year!) Retail and hospitality are the homes for the stupidest management of just about any field.
You have it wrong. Grocery stores do better in bad times, because people eat out less and eat at home more often. It has always been noted that Grocery stores are one of the good investments during hard times. Being open during holidays is just another sign of the increase in secularism and loss of tradition.
“Can the greed really be this strong?”
Yes, but rest assure that anybody above the Assistant Store Manager will be off and at home with their families.
Yesterday on the morning show here in Atlanta, they were talking about the sales and Kohl’s is opening at 4 am and some stores are having midnight sales. The one funny guy said pretty soon you’ll just be having Thanksgiving dinner in the Macy’s Christmas section.
Because if given the chance, some capitalists would work people to death.
“family is more important to me than shopping”
Me too. I will never set foot in a store on a holiday. (my own little statement) and I wish others would follow.
When I used to work in a 24x7 industry, we got either 2.5x pay or 1.5x pay and a day off later. It was easy duty and if Thanksgiving or Christmas there was usually a lot leftover food to eat, no traffic to battle, and a chance to get away from relatives we didn't like. We had no trouble filling the shifts.
Retail would be an entirely different matter.
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