Whether you love or hate the Thanksgiving shopping rush, it looks like it’s here to stay. As Marshal Cohen, the chief industry analyst for market research firm NPD explained, “Not everybody’s going to watch 12 hours of football on Thanksgiving Day.
Most people, after 20 minutes of sitting at the dinner table, are ready to get out and do something. Why not cater to the people who are into the sport of shopping?” Now, the pressure is mounting to actually stay open on Thanksgiving, a day that is a national holiday. Target, Sears, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart and Gap are all staying open on Thursday for your shopping pleasure and for their bottom line.
Some people, however, think it’s a terrible thing that the stores are open on Thanksgiving. They argue, understandably, that people should have one day where they can just relax and that employees shouldn’t be expected to work. There is a petition, for instance, on change.org asking Target to “save Thanksgiving” and stay closed. They have over 355,000 supporters at this time who have signed.
Some argue that being open on Thanksgiving only shifts spending but doesn’t accelerate it. It just means that more people will shop that day and not during the rest of the holiday weekend.