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If Thanksgiving is a bird, a beer and a football game for you, prepare to have your thinking challenged. Many retailers are looking to get a head start on Black Friday this year, opening a day early, some of them for the first time. Most Old Navy Stores (GPS) will open their doors on Thursday, along with Wal-Mart (WMT), Toys "R" Us, RadioShack (RSH) and Walgreen's (WAG). Rather than bet solely on Friday, retailers are looking to eke every last dime they can out of the holiday season this year.
The National Retail Federation expects holiday spending to drop 1% this year to $437.6 billion. "Retailers need to be competitive," says NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis. "There's a lot riding on the success of November and December retail sales."
In preparation for the busiest shopping day of the year, these five retailers are looking to take advantage of open doors on Thanksgiving Day:
1. Walmart: Most of the company's 3,500 stores will open their doors at 6 AM on Thanksgiving Day, some earlier. Wal-Mart is looking to smooth out its Black Friday traffic and pick up a few extra bucks. But the steals won't go live until 5 AM on Friday.
2. Old Navy: This Gap unit will open 700 of its 1,026 stores from noon to 5 PM on Thanksgiving, which conflicts with the peak eating time that day ... but does provide an alternative to football. So, it could just work out. Around 350 Gap and Banana Republic stores -- as well as those in outlets -- will also be open.
3. Toys "R" Us: The toy company will miss Thanksgiving Day, but open at midnight on Friday. From then, until 1 PM, several "door busters" will be available (and won't be advertised).
4. RadioShack: RadioShack has already tested the Thanksgiving Day concept for the past few years. This year, it will open 700 stores on Thursday in the western states, saying it's "responding to the needs of consumers."
5. T.G.I. Friday's: Why would a restaurant open on what's probably the biggest eat-in day of the year? Around 560 of the company's 600 locations will be open from 4 PM to 11 PM, skipping the traditional meal time. So, if you're tired of turkey -- no same-day leftovers for you! -- you'll have a place open for some appetizers and a few drinks. T.G.I. Friday's needs every advantage -- company president John Neitzel says 2009 has been the toughest in his 27 years there.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-26-2009 @ 6:52PM
mike said...
Black Friday will be gray this year. Nobody has any money! Once again American's are ramping up to get into more debt, buying things we can't afford. Isn't it bad enough that all of our homes and cars have been repossessed? I just hope we haven't forgotten what Christmas is all about