Macy's, Kohl's among retailers opening on Thanksgiving day to draw bargain shoppers
By RYAN GORMAN
Retailers have decided Thanksgiving Day is for bargain shoppers, not spending time at the dinner table with family.
Both Kohl's and Macy's have announced they will open at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to satiate Black Friday bargain shoppers. Other stores will open at midnight.
Belk Department Stores, with stores mostly in the South and Midwest, will also open at 6:00 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, the chain told CNBC. The retailer opened last year at 8:00 p.m. on the holiday.
Other retailers including J.C. Penney, Target and Wal-Mart also opened on Thanksgiving Day last year but have yet to announce their holiday plans.
Macy's flagship Herald Square store, past which the famous Thanksgiving Day Parade marches on its course through midtown Manhattan, had 15,000 people stand on line to fight their way in last year when the location opened at 8:00 p.m., a company spokesperson told CNBC.
Brick and mortar retailers have begun opening earlier each year as they begin to feel the squeeze from online shopping.
Macy's opened on Thanksgiving Day for the first time last year after opening at midnight on Black Friday in 2012.
Many stores have drawn a line in the sand and refuse to open on Thanksgiving day, but they are opening before sunrise on Black Friday.
Home Depot and Lowe's home improvement stores will open at 5:00 a.m. on Friday, as will select T.J.Maxx and Marshalls stores –- with the rest opening two hours later.
"We consider ourselves an associate-friendly company, and we are pleased to give our associates the time to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends," TJX spokeswoman Doreen Thompson told CNBC.
Macy's insisted to CNBC that the majority of its Thanksgiving Day shifts are being filled voluntarily because employees are paid time-and-a-half for working the holiday.
No matter their Black Friday strategy, retailers are beginning to feel the heat.
The Internet never sleeps.
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