Major retailers keep doors shut on Thanksgiving as holiday shopping shifts

Major retailers that began closing their stores on Thanksgiving during the COVID-19 pandemic have not resumed opening on the holiday, which suits shopper Joanie Prendergast just fine. 

"I don’t think it needs to be open. There’s always going to be sales," the Massapequa Park resident, 66, said outside the Walmart in Farmingdale on Friday.

"You’re never going to get that time back," she said of moments that could be spent with family.

Large retail chains began opening their doors on Thanksgiving around 2012, hoping to draw customers to deals.

Most of the chains, including Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target and Walmart, stopped the practice in 2020  during the pandemic. In May 2023, the pandemic was officially declared over, but the retailers have not resumed Thanksgiving openings — and some have said the change is permanent.

The six major shopping malls on Long Island, including Roosevelt Field in Uniondale, Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream and South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, will be closed again on the holiday.

Retailers said their stores will remain closed on Thanksgiving to allow employees to spend time with their families.

But retail experts also point to the growth of online shopping and consumers’ changing purchasing habits as major factors in large retailers remaining closed on Thanksgiving. More retailers are offering deals before November, such as Amazon Prime Day in October and Macy’s and other merchants holding Black Friday events in July, experts said.

This has extended the traditional holiday shopping season and reduced the significance of shopping on the five-day period that includes Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, said Michael Zdinak, director of the U.S. consumer markets service at S&P Global Market Intelligence, a Manhattan-based financial analysis provider.

"That ‘always be buying’ mindset has put a lot of pressure on retailers because it increases their competition," he said. "They can’t expect consumers to line up out the door for 10% or 20% off anymore because they know 30% off, 40% off or more is coming. Consumers have seen that in recent years, and they have come to expect it."

U.S. online sales are projected to hit a record high of $240.8 billion in November and December, an 8.4% increase over the two-month period last year, according to Adobe, a San Jose, California-based software company.

The fourth-quarter share of holiday shopping that took place online rose from 19.9% in 2019 to 26.6% in 2023, according to S&P.

Being closed on Thanksgiving is an easy public relations win for retailers, Zdinak said.

Target CEO Brian Cornell announced in 2021 that the decision to close stores on Thanksgiving was permanent. He reiterated that commitment in a November 2023 statement.

"I know I and many others have happy memories of holidays spent in stores with our work families — and that sense of connectedness is something we definitely cultivate for our team. But we also know there’s no substitute for the real thing, especially on a family-centered holiday like Thanksgiving," he said.

Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner told the "Today Show" in 2022 that being open on Thanksgiving was "a thing of the past."

Babylon resident Joe Bonafe prefers that stores remain closed on the holiday.

"It reminds me of when I was a kid. Keep families together," said Bonafe, 47.

Stores that will be open on Thanksgiving

Stores that will open on Thanksgiving this year include CVS, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Rite Aid and many grocery stores, but some will have reduced hours.

"King Kullen will be open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is consistent with past years," said Lloyd Singer, spokesperson for the Hauppauge-based supermarket chain.

Stew Leonard’s supermarket in Farmingdale will open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and its store in East Meadow will open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., said Meghan Bell, spokesperson for the Norwalk, Connecticut-based chain.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.