There was a time when Thanksgiving Day meant major retail stores were closed for the day. That isn’t any longer the case. Although it began just three years ago when some retailers decided to open their doors on Thanksgiving Day to get an early start on the vacation shopping season, it has now grow to be the norm. Since then, increasingly more retailers have followed the trend. So should you’re searching for a listing of stores closed on Thanksgiving, you could find it here.
Why are more stores open on Thanksgiving?
There are two arguments for this trend, with each side the difficulty quite otherwise. Stores that open on Thanksgiving Day (also called Gray Thursday or Black Thursday) argue that customers would really like an additional day to buy the vacation, giving them more flexibility. They also argue that they’ll lose out on sales if their competitors are open that day they usually don’t follow suit. In fact, for a lot of retailers, Thanksgiving Day has grow to be the brand new Black Friday, with the perfect deals available.
On the opposite hand, those that argue that retailers should remain closed argue that Thanksgiving is a vacation of family and gratitude and ought to be spent with family. Retailers who open stores on today keep their employees away from their families because they must work. They also indicate that opening on Thanksgiving doesn’t actually increase retailers’ overall sales for the vacation, but simply crowds out sales that customers would have made on Black Friday or one other later date. In other words, Thanksgiving sales don’t generate more overall sales, but as a substitute come on the expense of other shopping days.
Shops are closed on Thanksgiving
Although the trend is for stores to open on Thanksgiving Day, even when only for a number of hours, there are some retailers who still refuse to follow suit. In fact, they’re amongst the largest cheerleaders relating to shaming retailers who open on Gray Thursday. Below is a listing of fifty stores (and counting) which have announced they might be closed on Thanksgiving to offer their employees a time off with their families.
- Small independent local shops
- Apple Stores
- Barnes & Noble
- Bed, bathroom and beyond
- BJ’s Wholesale Club
- Burlington Coat Factory
- Costco warehouse
- Box and barrel
- Dillard’s
- Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW)
- Guitar Center
- HM
- Half price books
- Harbor freight
- Hobby Lobby
- HomeGoods (varies by store)
- Home Depot
- Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts
- Lowes
- Marshall’s
- Menards
- Mills Fleet Farm
- Nordstrom
- Northern tool
- Office Depot and Office Max
- Patagonia
- Pep guys
- Petco
- Petsmart (except dog and cat hotels)
- REI
- Sam’s Club
- Sam Ash
- Athlete camp
- Staples
- TJ Maxx
If you realize of one other store that might be closed on Thanksgiving Day, please leave the retailer’s name within the comments so we will add it to this growing list of stores that won’t be open on November 28, 2024.