How Low Can You Go? Macy’s Announces 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Opening
Across most of the country, Black Friday is becoming a very long day.
On Tuesday, Macy’s announced it will open its doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. According to NBC, that’s two hours earlier than its 8 p.m. opening time of last year, and a good six hours earlier than its midnight opening in 2012.
Here in Massachusetts, and in Rhode Island, the law prevents stores from opening before midnight, so we’re not swept up in the craziness until the clock strikes 12. But even though—or maybe because—we can’t participate, this time of year always brings up the question: Should businesses open on Thanksgiving night? And if so, how early is too early?
Black Friday creep has come fast and furious.
Macy’s follows the lead of WalMart and Best Buy, which opened their doors at 6 p.m. in 2013 (again, not in Massachusetts). In 2011, WalMart first opened up before midnight, at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. Macy’s is the first to make its 2014 plans public, and it remains to be seen if other major retailers push into the 6 p.m. range or go even earlier to one-up the department store.
It’s iffy stuff, but it’s not all negative. Some—some—retail workers might look favorably at the opportunity to earn overtime pay, and the late-night deals might make for the best way for families to afford the holidays. (That factor would be mitigated if the companies just held their sales until Black Friday, of course.)
But as these opening times bound toward afternoon, it will be interesting to see whether retailers ever feel like they’ve hit a downward limit. At 6 p.m., many families probably haven’t even sat down for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s clear companies don’t much care about whether their workers have gotten the chance to enjoy the holiday, but you do need customers to come to the stores.
It looks like there’s demand enough to justify a 6 p.m. opening. But how about 4 p.m., or 2 p.m.? At what point are enough consumers going to be sitting on the couch watching football, or around a table talking to their families, that companies will feel like it’s not worth it? Maybe that point doesn’t exist. Maybe there’s either enough demand or, even if open stores run in the red for a few hours, a perceived competitive edge to justify not even faking Thanksgiving, to stay open all day. At this rate, we’ll find out pretty soon.
So, 6 p.m. for Macy’s. WalMart’s on the clock.
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