Retail-Me-NOT! The Not So Great US Thanksgiving Day Shopping Rush

Recently, Wal-Mart joined a growing list of retailers who said that they would open their doors for shopping on Thanksgiving Day at 6 pm - that's two hours earlier than last year.  Amazing, isn't it?… this is right smack dab in the middle of dinner!  

We've seen Black Friday creep from stores who open early on Black Friday, (remember when 7 am was a shocker?) to very early (5 am) to midnight after Thanksgiving dinner (gasp!) then to 8 pm on Thursday evening and now to 6 pm on Thursday….Out of control!

Target, BestBuy, Macy's and others have joined the fray.  

But the worst "offender" has got to be Kmart - who is proudly opening stores at 6 am on Thanksgiving morning and staying open for 41 hours straight into Black Friday!!

Retailers defend these crazy hours, calling this time the 'Super Bowl of Retail" and basically saying that they must compete with each other. 

But I wonder about that - I wonder - what if any major chain came forth and issued a statement like this…

"We at Store X feel that the Thanksgiving Holiday is an important time to spend with family and friends, and we want all of our employees and customers to enjoy the holiday (and maybe even give thanks!), therefore we will be CLOSED on Thanksgiving Day and we will open for business on Black Friday at our USUAL and CUSTOMARY business hours.  Thanks for your patronage." 

I, for one, would respect this company so much I'd go out of my way to shop there!

What about you? 

Til next time, 

Kevin