Target Joins Walmart to Close Its Stores on Thanksgiving Day, Ending a Decade-Long Tradition of Boosting Black Friday Sales
NEW YORK – Target is teaming up with Walmart to close its stores on Thanksgiving Day, ending a ten-year long tradition of quickly starting Black Friday sales.
The move, announced Monday, comes as stores are rethinking purchases of Black Friday deals at the store as they try to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has seen a resurgence in many states. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, announced the move on Tuesday, and at the time, analysts expected more to come.
“Historically, the search for deals and Christmas shopping can mean crowded events, and this is not a year for the crowds,” Target said in a statement.
Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said earlier this month that department stores will be focusing their Black Friday business more online and will likely “go full force” with Christmas marketing right after Halloween. There will also be amazing events to reduce customer traffic in the store.
Target first opened on Thanksgiving Day in 2011, teaming up with other stores to drive Black Friday sales and creating a new tradition of shoppers heading to stores after gobbling up their turkey and pumpkin pie. It came as physical stores sought to become more competitive as shoppers changed more online.
Still, while some shoppers enjoy shopping on Thanksgiving, the events have been particularly criticized by worker-backed groups who have criticized stores for taking advantage of workers. Not even in the top 10 busiest days on the retailers’ calendar, Thanksgiving sales have affected Black Friday sales as well, although Black Friday remains the second or largest shopping day of the year. year.
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