Are you for or against Thursday/Thanksgiving store openings?

[stevierocks]

... i would dislike only  because it takes families away from each other earlier , as some must go shopping instead of hanging out with their family and friends longer..

[Bobbi0125]

I am for it. I go from one store to the next all through out the night as they each open. In the past I have worked in retail and for me it was so exciting. Your shift flew by and most shoppers are happy to be there. It is unfortunate for those workers who don't want to be there but usually they never want to be there.

 

I spend time with my family regularly. They would totally understand if I didn't come to dinner because I was shopping. They love me like that. They know that the money I have can only go so far and Black Friday allows me to buy more for my children and other family members.

 

If you do not like the early times don't go! Stay home and enjoy your family and dinner. It's ok. I personally don't mind at all. If someone in your family has to work and can't be there, make them a plate and bring it to them at their lunch time. I'm sure that would make their day!

Edited November 2, 2014 by Bobbi0125

[misstaken]

If someone in your family has to work and can't be there, make them a plate and bring it to them at their lunch time. I'm sure that would make their day!

 

Just wanted to add, I'm a respiratory therapist. All of the hospitals that I have worked at and the long term care facility that I work at now take good care of the employees that have to work on holidays. We get food provided by our employers and are allowed to decorate the areas that we work in. It means a lot to the residents and patients that don't have anywhere else to go that we are there and that we are happy to be able to take care of them. For some of them, we are the only family that they have. It's our responsibility to make sure they don't feel like a burden because we would rather be somewhere else doing something else. This is the job we signed up for.

 

Maybe try to keep in mind that some people don't have family or friends to celebrate holidays with. Maybe they go out shopping or out to eat or to a movie because they want to be around others at a time that they know people are happy and celebrating. As a teenager, I worked at Chuck E Cheese for a couple of years. I volunteered to work Thanksgiving because my mom was a nurse and we didn't always have Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day. Yes, it was pretty slow as far as business went, but there were always some families there because they either didn't celebrate Thanksgiving or because they weren't able to travel to where family was. There is always another side to the story. I just wish people weren't so quick to judge other people's situations.

[Pepper_Mint_Tea]

Or maybe these people make time special with their family all the time and not just on Thanksgiving.  I live near my family and we get together all the time to celebrate being a family.  We have parties and fun together all the time and don't need a "special" day to get together.

 

I have seen people mentioning that there are many people who have to work on Thanksgiving anyway and that is just ignored.  Besides essential service people like hospital workers, police, fire there are also cinema workers - did you know your local movie theater is open on Thanksgiving??  Many families go to the movie together after Thanksgiving dinner (I know because I used to work at a movie theater as a teenager and had to work on Thanksgiving).  Gas stations are open, and drug stores, etc.  

 

Life doesn't stop because it is Thanksgiving and many people just don't value this day as much as others - and that is OK.  Don't shame others because they don't have the same opinions as you is all I am saying.  Different people have different reasons as to why they support the earlier opening times and if their reason is important to them then it is valid regardless if they have family nearby or not.

 

Thanks you for your feed back, I refuse to leave my house and drop My Family time for a new TV. Have a great day !!

[lorie]

I liked Friday morning openings. It was always fun to relook at the papers after Thanksgiving dinner, then get in a nap. We would l met my mom to shop around 3:00.

[mommy2twingles]

I wouldn't mind 10 pm and later openings.  That still gives you time for a normal dinner time and getting some family time in.  These 6 pm openings pretty much kill that.  We had a 4 hour window last year between stores which is also difficult as you want to go home and sleep but there is always something at one of the 5 am opening stores that is on your list. 

[nikkilugi]

Thanks you for your feed back, I refuse to leave my house and drop My Family time for a new TV. Have a great day !!

That's cool too. But if that TV is the only thing my child wants for Christmas and it is $200 on Black Friday/Thanksgiving evening (normally $350) then I am going to go get it. I think of it as enhancing my family life to make my kids happy by getting them the things they want on Christmas.

 

Have a wonderful upcoming holiday season and a blessed day!!

Edited November 2, 2014 by nikkilugi

[abentley]

The anticipation of getting up super early Friday morning is gone! I would go over every inch of every ad after Thanksgiving dinner anxiously awaiting bedtime!

That being said....I am embracing the new! My teen boys like to go with me to help me in lines get the items we want, and I get to experience a new dynamic with them, which I wouldn't trade for the world. I have a " hard to shop for" boy that for some crazy reason will grab some items he won't tell me he wants, but will show up with arms full.

I am lucky to not have to work the holidays, as I work in school environments, but I do express my joy of being able to shop the crazy hours to the employees that are there! Hoping a happy customer can help buffer the cranky ones!

[myboysnme]

I am against Thanksgiving day openings.  I am kind of old school about that stuff, and I feel like it kind of forces me to shop on Thanksgiving in order to grab the good deals instead of just relaxing and enjoying the day.

 

It was better just getting up early Friday and going out or shopping online.

 

Last year I was actually stalking a deal on Wednesday evening when I should have been cooking.

[kdspark]

Doesnt bother me one way or the other. Folks need the work now adays

[Tara3117]

I'm not altogether opposed to it, but I can't participate in the early openings. My Thanksgiving is jam-packed already and I'm not going to drop any of that for the sake of a sale. The traditionalist in me misses sitting around the kitchen table, eating pumpkin pie, passing the ads around and then getting up in the middle of the night, getting in line crazy early in the cold and then shopping all day. The early openings take some of the fun out of that since I know I won't be there when the stores open. On the other hand, I understand that some people are happy to make holiday pay to work that day and some people are happy to include shopping as part of their Thanksgiving Day traditions. 

 

The only way to stop stores from opening on Thanksgiving is to not shop there on Thanksgiving. If retailers don't make enough money to warrant opening the doors on Thanksgiving, they won't. It would take a lot of people to make a statement and it probably won't happen, but that would be the only way to do it.

 

Unrelated, KDSPARK, is that a neopet in your avatar?

 

Doesnt bother me one way or the other. Folks need the work now adays

Edited November 3, 2014 by Tara3117

[redraccoon]

Against.  And I won't be shopping on Thursday.

 

They are not going to have anything on that great of a sale that will make me want to take time away from my family. 

 

The sales this year are going to have to be better than last year to even get me out the door on Friday... seriously, the things I wanted were available on Cyber Monday from the comfort of my couch and jammies - or at other sales which didn't require me being outside and freezing while waiting for a store to open.

[nicolette12926]

I'll be shopping...My family is over 1,000 miles away so is just hubby and I in  a new state..Plus this is the first time in many years I don't have to work on these days so no rush for us....

[fallgirl326]

I am personally against it and will do this year what I did last year.  I took black Friday back to what it used to be, getting up around 4:00 and heading out with my sister. We were pleasantly surprised to find at that hour- 

1) almost no lines in ANY of the stores we went to ,the rush was over

 2) we were still able to get everything we wanted.

 

Looking forward to another 4am Black Friday this year

[giz]

Against it..... But then when I don't go out, I feel like I'm missing something "really good". ;-)

[Jillnc5]

Against it! Totally takes the fun away from what Black Friday is!!!

[faceofboe]

For me, it's way easier to stay awake late into the night than get up early on friday morning.  For that reason alone, I'm for the Thursday evening openings.  I won't go any earlier than 8pm though. 

I'd also like to add that I get a real kick out of the people who say that they refuse to support stores that open on Thanksgiving because the employees should get to stay home with family, so instead they shop online on thursday.  I hope you realize that in order for these big online sales to go smoothly, a lot more IT people are required to work on Thanksgiving.  It doesn't just run automatically.  No matter which way you shop, someone's got to work in order for that to happen.

[TMC4real]

I think there are plenty of people that work on Thanksgiving.  There are firemen, police, doctors, nurses, and many others that do work and have worked.  When you take a job, you take the good and the bad.  I worked in warehousing for a long time and in my early years, I spent a lot of time in the food industry, supplying restaurants.  We worked holidays.  Amazing how many people go out to eat on Thanksgiving.  Those that supply the food are there, shipping it, preparing it, cleaning up behind them.  It just is what it is.

 

If you want that day to spend with family, request it off in advance or find an industry that does not open.  I am against anyone attempting to restrict people's freedoms.  If someone wants to shop on Thanksgiving and businesses want to open, that is their right. Personally, I rarely venture out on Thanksgiving, but I will order stuff online. 

[showmepro1200]

It's called Black FRIDAY - get it???

[bluesky225]

I am personally against it and will do this year what I did last year.  I took black Friday back to what it used to be, getting up around 4:00 and heading out with my sister. We were pleasantly surprised to find at that hour- 

1) almost no lines in ANY of the stores we went to ,the rush was over

 2) we were still able to get everything we wanted.

 

Looking forward to another 4am Black Friday this year

I'm thinking I need to try what you did this year...sounds nice! I prefer the Friday openings and don't like the Thursday start times. I tend to do a lot more online shopping now because of it.

[onemill]

I am totally against it.  I believe that the stores should allow their employees to have Thursday off. Then have people come in early on Friday.  Even the seasonal employees will be working a lot in the store timeframe through January 1st, so one day does not hurt.

[jaymacfla]

I remember as far back as 2006, people (some of them are prominent members on these boards) had claimed that Walmart was not a direct competitor of Best Buy. I saw that hypothesis crushed time and again, since Walmart always had the market share on just about any item that other stores carried. It was always the threat of Walmart that drove Best Buy into a secret sale frenzy for 3 years. It made no difference which secondary store dabbled on Thursday. As long as Walmart stayed the course, Black Friday would remain a constant. Walmart then shifted focus to wave shopping, and then took it to a whole new level. Best Buy was forced (Now recognized by their actions as a major competitor) to move with Walmart to the new time-frame. This year is no different. I have already begun hearing of Best Buy being in a holding pattern until they learn of Walmart's opening time. As I have stated in another thread, the blame for all of this falls squarely on the shoulders of the largest retailer. This is the store where America shops. The store who claims to hold family values and traditions near and dear to our hearts. Yet, they are failing us miserably.

This is like an arms race, except we are the missiles in a never ending escalation until all retailers proclaim that they want to restrict the amount of rounds, waves and time that we as the consumers can all agree on as the fair option without government regulation to stop it.

[shop2it]

We go out on Thanksgiving as a family and it's great fun, even my husband goes.  This is after our family dinner that we have always had around 2 pm so it works great for us.  I understand people feeling bad for those that have to work thinking that retail isn't necessary like other professions that must work on holidays but it is necessary for some people.  Some people depend on these sales to have the Christmas they want to give their families or even the hours worked to support their family.  As a nurse, I've had to work every holiday through the years whether I wanted to or not, it's life.  There is always another day, we have had to shift our holiday gatherings many times to accommodate people working a particular holiday in our family.  People need to remember it's the time spent with family no matter what day it is, just enjoy your family.

[tubemonkey]

Uh oh for Costco -- they're being praised for being one of the stores that will be closed on Thanksgiving, thereby allowing their employees to be with their families. That's all well and good, except they're not going to be completely closed.

 

Costco.com will be open on Thanksgiving -- which means Costco employees will be working that day

[brandibug]

I'm not really a fan of the stores being open, but I can also see the appeal. Quite honestly by the evening on Thanksgiving I'm over the family time and we're all bugging each other (which is why movie theaters do so well on Thanksgiving Day) so might as well shop, right? As long as employees do get time with their families, I guess it doesn't bug me one way or the other.

[Buckeye Shopper]

I'm against Thanksgiving openings for many reasons! I did try it last year because we eat dinner early and are home by the time the stores opened on Thanksgiving, but it totally ruined it for me. I was exhausted and couldn't think clearly. I miss getting up early and starting "Black Friday" shopping. Thanksgiving day shopping has driven me to shop online or on Friday like I always did. I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving night again.

[momto6]

I live in MA. Stores are not allowed to open on Thanksgiving. Towns also dictate when they can open on Friday. Our WalMart opened at 5am (I think) last year. Even the stores that are open (pharmacy CVS) they can't sell the sale items until 5am. One Outlet opened at 12am (different town) and was CRAZY from what I heard. 2 hours waiting to get off the highway to get to it!

[AndreaInNC]

I shop at a super Walmart that is open anyway.

[delphernina]

The switchover has completely ruined our tradition. I cook Thanksgiving dinner and my family travels from out of town to eat. Once upon a time we would eat at 2:00 and the family would leave around 5:00 taking my boys with them. My husband and I would sit by the fire and pour over bf ads circling what we wanted, what we would price match etc and then go to bed super early. We were always tired early because hosting Thanksgiving wears us out! We'd get up early, come home and wrap everything before taking a nap and picking up the boys.

 

I know we just need to develop a new tradition, but really now as soon as the family is out the door we basically head out and shop until we are exhausted and well, it's just not the same. Forget about wrapping anything before we go to sleep....it just lacks something it used to have. At some point there really won't be a reason for me to go out.

Edited November 9, 2014 by delphernina

[Mcstewartt]

I like being able to get some things online, but I wouldn't want to go out before midnight. That being said, I did run out at 10 last year to get something at walmart that was only going to be available during one of their many "windows."