(Photo: Costco Wholesale)
Up to 60 stores are closing on Thanksgiving now and waiting until Black Friday to open. However, while that number grows, others are opening earlier. USA TODAY
UPDATE: This story was originally published Oct. 1 and has been updated to reflect additional stores staying closed on Thanksgiving. Check back for updates.
Weeks ahead of Halloween, the holiday shopping season may seem far off.
But BestBlackFriday.com released its 2018 Thanksgiving Day store closings listMonday, a roll call of retailers that won’t open their brick-and-mortar stores Nov. 22.
Costco, Ikea, Sam’s Club, Home Depot and Lowe’s are among the big names on the popular holiday website’s third annual Thanksgiving closures list.
“At this point in the year, we have the most confirmed closures we have ever had with 60 retailers,” said Phillip Dengler, head of editorial and content marketing for BestBlackFriday.com, which began contacting stores in early September.
The stores on the list have traditionally kept their doors closed for the holiday, and Dengler expects the list to grow. Although the site hasn’t confirmed any new closures this year, Dengler said there were a few surprises last year.
In 2017, GameStop opened on Thanksgiving for the first time in years, and Stein Mart and Shoe Carnival closed after being open in previous years.
“While we do not expect any huge retailers to switch course, we do expect a middle-tier retailer or two to potentially close,” Dengler said.
According to the National Retail Federation, 174 million people shopped in-store and online during last year’s five-day Thanksgiving weekend, which concluded with Cyber Monday.
ShopperTrak found Thanksgiving Day foot traffic to be down while Black Friday traffic remained stable in 2017. The market research firm projects this Black Friday will be the biggest shopping day of the year.
Black Friday gained its name because it was viewed as the day of the year retailers earned profitability, or were “in the black.” Nearly a decade ago, sales slowly started creeping into Thanksgiving and by 2012 most major retailers were open on the fourth Thursday in November.
Despite public outcry and shoppers threatening to boycott, the opening times have moved earlier. Last year, J.C. Penney started its sale at 2 p.m. Thanksgiving and Kohl’s, Macy’s and Best Buy started sales at 5 p.m.
“Many people are still strongly against the idea of retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving,” Dengler said. “Since Thanksgiving is all about family, a majority of people believe stores should be closed on the day.”
While still a minority, the website’s new survey shows more people may be getting used to the idea. Nearly a quarter of the 1,069 surveyed this year said they were in favor of the holiday openings, close to a 9 percentage point increase over last year.
What time stores will serve up Thanksgiving in-store sales this year isn’t public yet.
“Stores are always reluctant to tell us if they will be open on Thanksgiving and what their hours will be,” Dengler said. “Since most major national retailers are open on Thanksgiving, we think it is because the competition is much more fierce.”
Here are some stores that will be closed on Thanksgiving Day according to a leading deals website.Buzz60
Staying closed Thanksgiving
Here is a list of retailers planning to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day, compiled by BestBlackFriday.com.
A.C. Moore
Abt Electronics
Academy Sports + Outdoors
Ace Hardware
Acme Tools
Allen Edmonds
American Girl
At Home
AT&T (company-owned stores)
Barnes & Noble
Big 5 Sporting Goods
BJ’s Wholesale Club
Blain’s Farm & Fleet
Bob’s Discount Furniture
Burlington
Christopher & Banks
Cost Plus World Market
Costco
Craft Warehouse
Crate & Barrel
Dillard’s
dressbarn (majority of stores)
El Dorado Furniture
Fleet Farm
Gardner-White Furniture
Guitar Center
H&M
Half Price Books
Harbor Freight Tools
Hobby Lobby
Home Depot
HomeGoods
Homesense
Ikea
Joann Stores
Lamps Plus
Lowe’s
Marshalls
Mattress Firm
Menards
Micro Center
Music & Arts
Nordstrom
Nordstrom Rack
Office Depot and OfficeMax
The Original Mattress Factory
P.C. Richard & Son
Patagonia
Pep Boys
Petco
PetSmart
Pier 1 Imports
Publix
Raymour & Flanigan Furniture | Mattresses
REI
Sam’s Club
Sierra Trading Post
Sportsman’s Warehouse
Sprint (some mall retail stores and kiosks may open on Thanksgiving)
Staples
Stein Mart
Sur La Table
The Container Store
The Paper Store
TJ Maxx
Tractor Supply Co.
Trader Joe’s
Trollbeads
Von Maur
West Marine
Source: USA Today, October 2018
