Black Friday creeps into Thursday

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO and TOM KRISHER

NEW YORK (AP) - The nation's shoppers on Thursday put down the turkey to take advantage of Thanksgiving deals.

Stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving that's named Black Friday because that's when stores traditionally turn a profit for the year. But Black Friday openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Target to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie.

Target Corp. (TGT) is opening its doors at 9 p.m. on the holiday, three hours earlier than last year. Sears, which didn't open on Thanksgiving last year, is opening at 8 p.m. on Thursday through 10 p.m. on Black Friday. Toys R Us will be opening at 8 p.m., an hour earlier than last year. And others such as Macy's Inc. (M) are opening at midnight on Black Friday.

Retailers are hoping that the Thanksgiving openings will draw shoppers who prefer to head to stores after their turkey dinner rather than braving the crowds early the next morning. Overall, about 17 percent of shoppers plan to take advantage of Thanksgiving hours, according to a International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs survey of 1,000 consumers.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121123/DA2ND2CG3.html

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Dora Hurtado waits in line at a Pembroke Pines, Fla. Toys-R-Us store, late Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. While stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Wal-Mart to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

[xfundy]

1. Sad, in many ways.

Sad that employees can't relax and enjoy the day and evening. I remember when people who worked in retail could hold their heads up and support families, own houses, etc., because their employers considered them valuable and recognized their importance in the selling process.

Sad that adults have come to believe that buying cheap plastic shit made in China, by slave communist workers, is the only thing that will make their kids happy, even as the parents have seen their own jobs evaporate.

Sad that the communists have finally won, and the repigs want to make Americans into slave labor and treat people as disposable, just as we've always learned the communists do.

I hope and pray we will be able to turn this mess around and tax the job-exporters' asses off till they bring work back here and stop being traitors.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

6. Cheap plastic shit made in China!

Amen to that.

[sarcasmo]

2. 10 years from now, Black Halloween.

[femmocrat]

3. I heard the news referring to today as "Gray Thursday".

I guess it's the "War on Thanksgiving" ---???

I predict that next year it will just be another shopping day.

[DJ13]

4. If we had nationwide wage laws that required double pay for holidays

This wouldnt be an issue, these retail asshats wouldnt open this early.

[davidn3600]

9. Sure they would

The big box stores would at least.

What they pay in labor is a drop in the bucket compared to the profit they rake in from these large crowds.

Many stores are already paying overtime. And the workers are more than happy to take it.

[TwilightGardener]

5. I just don't love anybody in my family quite enough to shop

for gifts on Thanksgiving night. Or Black Friday.

[Demonaut]

7. the war on xmas is just as relevant to the creep of black friday

into thurs

[Tabasco_Dave]

8. Why don't they have a black payday.

December third, i don't get paid till the first of the month. I don't have any money after Thanksgiving.