Thanksgiving closings reflect ambivalence about ever-earlier holiday shopping hours

• Americans have a love-hate affair with extended Thanksgiving-weekend shopping hours
• Some stores will stay closed Thanksgiving and even Black Friday, often helping their branding
• Long Thanksgiving-weekend hours have become a popular, if not necessarily profitable, tradition for retailers

Maybe Black Friday shopping madness, not to mention store hours that stretch back into Thanksgiving, isn't for everyone. That goes for retailers, too.

Outdoors outfitter REI generated some positive buzz when it announced late last month that it would keep stores closed on Thanksgiving and the next day, Black Friday, so employees could spend time with their families.

Other retailers, including H&M, Costco and Staples, also have announced they won't be open on Thanksgiving this year. But most big chains and shopping centers will keep the cash registers humming through Thanksgiving evening and the wee hours Friday as they try to squeeze more sales out of the holiday-shopping season.

Thanksgiving weekend policies are one way for retailers to differentiate themselves from the pack, and they reflect the country's love-hate relationship with the idea of shopping till you drop.

Extended hours are popular with millions of Americans, or retailers would keep their lights turned off on Thanksgiving Day and wouldn't turn them back on until the start of the regular shift on Friday. For most of the big chains, this year's holiday hours are similar to last year's.

(A partial list of major retailers and their Thanksgiving and day after hours-of-operation -- at the bottom of this article)

Most Americans choose to stay home on Thanksgiving, spending the time with family and friends rather than hunting for parking spaces and standing in lengthy checkout lines. Some employees don't like working the long hours, either.

"Macy's needs to understand that the families of its employees matter more than the bottom line and not open its stores on Thanksgiving Day," griped Jerry Palacios of Tucson, who described himself as a Macy's employee in an open letter to the company's chairman and CEO, Terry Lundgren. Macy's will open at 6 p.m. this Thanksgiving.

Many retailers offer overtime pay to ensure they have adequate staffing for the extended hours. And plenty of shoppers are more than willing to put those dirty Thanksgiving dishes aside and rush to retail centers in search of bargains and the thrill of getting the first doorbuster special. Some venture out in anticipation of seeing something exciting happen, like two shoppers playing tug-of-war over a deeply discounted television.

"It has become an important tradition for millions of Americans," said Kathy Allen, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation.

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Kohl's, Macy's, Target, Toys "R" Us and Sears are among major retailers keeping the same Thanksgiving Day hours as they did last year.

Consumers expressed ambivalence about the rush that kicks off with stores opening on Thanksgiving.

 "Despite ever-early Black Friday creep and some disdain for stores opening on Thanksgiving, consumers still expect the deepest savings during the main holiday weekend,” said Brent Shelton of discount-shopping resource FatWallet.com, in a statement.

The site asked consumers when they expect to find the best deals. The highest proportion, 39 percent, cited Black Friday specials, beating out the 20 percent who cited Cyber Monday, the first day of the workweek after the holiday weekend. Yet in the same poll, 42 percent of respondents said they didn't like to see stores open on Thanksgiving, and 26 percent said Black Friday sales start too early. Only 5 percent of respondents to the FatWallet survey said they like to shop on Thanksgiving. The October survey elicited responses from 1,000 adults.

Palacios, was one of at least three people around the country posting petitions on change.org asking Macy's to scale back hours over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. He praised the company for promoting charities, backing humanitarian causes and setting the standard as a "fair and respectful workplace."  But he called Macy's irresponsible for making employees work longer around the holidays.

"When I started here, we were closed that day (Thanksgiving) and were able to enjoy the day with our families," Palacios wrote. "Then after a couple of years we opened at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Then a couple of years went by and we opened at midnight on Thanksgiving Day. Now Macy's is opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day."

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Palacios didn't response to requests  for further comment, and a Macy's spokesman didn't return a call seeking more information on the company's Thanksgiving-weekend policies. But Allen at the National Retail Federation senses that most workers don't object too much.

"If you work in retailing, it's assumed you're working the holiday season," she said. "It's the nature of the beast."

Shopper reaction

Macy's isn't the only store attracting criticism. For example, similar petitions on Change.org elicited comments directed at Target and J.C. Penney for their extended store hours.

"This year, I am boycotting any store that is open on Thanksgiving," wrote Kimberly Czerwonka of Gilbert. "Families should be together on holidays, not having to work ridiculous hours. All of my holiday shopping will go to stores and companies that value their employees."

In a follow-up note to The Republic, Czerwonka, who used to work in retail and customer service, said she thought it was "disrespectful and ridiculous for employees to give up their family and holiday time so that someone else can buy a TV at a lower price."

Neela Sastry of Chandler said Thanksgiving is about spending time with  family and friends, adding that large corporations such as Target have the power to influence others to follow in their footsteps. Sastry wrote that she loves Target and would respect the company even more if it changed its extended-hours policy.

"Come on, Target executives, make this about something other than just the bottom line," she wrote on Change.org.

In addition to overtime pay for employees working extended hours on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, some retailers try to meet staffing needs mainly with workers who offer to work  those shifts. Time-and-a-half pay, representing a 50 percent bonus over regular hourly compensation, is fairly standard for that time of year, said Allen at the National Retail Federation.

It remains to be seen whether retailers, many of whom boost their temporary staffing by tens of thousands of workers for the holiday season, could encounter problems attracting employees. It hasn't happened yet.

The REI way

The recent march to ever-longer store hours has generated backlash for many and praise for the small-but-growing number of companies that plan to stay closed. REI, the outdoors-equipment retailer, announced that it would stay closed on Thanksgiving Day and on Black Friday. Costco, H&M, Lowe's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom,  Sam's Club, Staples and Sur la Table  are among other retailers planning to remain closed on Thanksgiving. But many chains, including Nordstrom, will offer Black Friday online deals a day early for customers willing to shop on Turkey Day via their computers or smartphones.

Holiday-hour  decisions can influence a retailer's branding and image.

"REI is saying, 'We'll sit out Black Friday and encourage people to spend the day outdoors, then we'll jump back into the holiday madness on Saturday,'" said Kevin Paul Scott,co-founder of branding consultancy ADDO Worldwide in Atlanta. "It's a statement about what they believe is most important, and it builds tremendous brand loyalty."

It helps that REI, or Recreational Equipment Inc., is organized as a cooperative owned by many of its customers. The company might cater to a more socially conscious customer base.

"By and large, their customers are younger, active, like the outdoors and probably don't enjoy the malls as much anyway," Scott said.

Scott doesn't believe store closings on Thanksgiving and, in some cases, Black Friday, will become the next big trend in retailing, but he says that a small  but growing number of companies are taking that stand and advertising or publicizing their decisions.

"Last year was when you really began to see companies stating, 'We're staying closed and we'll tell you why.'"

Scott sees this as part of a broader trend in which more companies, both in and outside of retail, share their values rather than just promote products, services and prices. He views holiday hours as one more opportunity for "competitive one-upmanship," a chance for stores to tell how they differ from the competition.

Big drop in the bucket

Last year, 87 million Americans visited stores or shopped online on Black Friday, according to the National Retail Federation. That's about one-third of all holiday shoppers. This year, the federation expects seasonal sales will increase by a relatively robust 3.7 percent over 2014.

Curiously, profits generated over the few extra hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday don't make or break the year for most retailers. In fact, profit margins frequently are slim or non-existent because so many items are marked down.

"It's really about giving customers the experiences they want, the deals they want," Allen said. "When that happens, there's a good chance (shoppers) will come back later that holiday season."

Thanksgiving weekend shopping makes up  10 to 15 percent of typical retail sales over the 61 days that define the traditional holiday season, encompassing all of November and December, according to the National Retail Federation. Many people shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend are doing so for themselves, not searching for bargain-priced gifts for others, Allen said.

The industry group defines this time of year as more of a marathon than a sprint. Retailers start discounts early in November, and many continue the tradition well into January. Target, for instance, announced a 10-day holiday sale that begins Nov. 22.

Sastry of Chandler said she'd  like to see the extended-hour trend reversed, with less cultural emphasis on shopping in general. "For the one day, we need to take a break," she said in an interview.

"But the problem is that if the stores stay open, (people) will come."

The phenomenon does appear to be so ingrained that it likely has become permanent.

"It's still a very important time of year for a lot of retailers and consumers, and that's not going to change," Allen said.

Reach the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8616.

Store hours on Thanksgiving, Black Friday

Here are general schedules for selected large retailers for Thanksgiving and the following day, Black Friday. Individual store hours may vary and are subject to change. Complete details have not been released in many cases. These hours don't apply to online shopping deals, which frequently are available throughout the long holiday weekend.

Barnes & Noble: Closed Thanksgiving.

Bed Bath & Beyond: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 6 a.m.

Best Buy: Open Thanksgiving from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; open Black Friday at 8 a.m.

Costco: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 9 a.m.

Dollar General: Open Thanksgiving at 7 a.m.

GameStop: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 5 a.m.

H&M: Closed Thanksgiving.

Home Depot: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 6 a.m.

Kohl's: Open Thanksgiving at 6 p.m.

Lowe's: Closed Thanksgiving.

Macy's: Open Thanksgiving at 6 p.m.; open Black Friday at midnight.

Neiman Marcus: Closed Thanksgiving.

Old Navy: Open Thanksgiving at 4 p.m.; open Black Friday all day.

J.C. Penney: Open Thanksgiving at 3 p.m. through Black Friday at 2 p.m.

PetSmart: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 7 a.m.

REI: Closed Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Rite Aid: Open Thanksgiving at 8 a.m.; open Black Friday at 7 a.m.

Sam's Club: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 7 a.m.

Sears: Open Thanksgiving 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Black Friday; reopen Black Friday at 5 a.m.

Sports Authority: Open Thanksgiving at 6 p.m.; open Black Friday at 6 a.m.

Staples: Closed Thanksgiving; open Black Friday at 6 a.m.

Sur la Table: Closed Thanksgiving.

Target: Open Thanksgiving at 6 p.m.

Toys "R" Us: Open Thanksgiving at 5 p.m. through Black Friday at 11 p.m.

Walgreens: Open Thanksgiving at 8 a.m.; open Black Friday at 8 a.m.

Walmart: Open Thanksgiving at 6 p.m.

Information: BlackFriday.com and company sources.