Stores, malls plan earlier Thanksgiving Day openings

The tussle by retailers for shoppers’ Thanksgiving dollars is getting fiercer as more stores and malls will open earlier on the holiday than ever before.  

Stores and malls with new Thanksgiving hours this year include:

• Target will add two hours to its Thanksgiving schedule, opening from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., compared to 6 p.m. to midnight last year.
• Video game chain GameStop will start its holiday business an hour earlier than it did last year, and will be open from 3 to 10 p.m.
• Shoe retailer DSW will be open from 5 to 10 p.m., after being closed on Thanksgiving for the past two years.
• Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream will be open from 6 p.m. to midnight for the first time. Last year the mall’s stores had the option of opening at 8 p.m., a mall spokeswoman said.
• Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove and Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City will be open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., an hour earlier than last year.

Many retailers began regularly opening on Thanksgiving about five years ago. But the push for longer and earlier Thanksgiving hours continues, even though brick-and-mortar stores are seeing declining foot traffic on Thanksgiving — and over the entire Black Friday weekend — as consumers shun long lines in favor of shopping online, experts said.

“Whether they’re transacting or just browsing, a great many Americans spend time Thanksgiving Day visiting e-commerce sites. Shoppers don’t need to inconvenience themselves to see what’s new, what’s hot, what’s specially priced, etc.,” said Ray Hartjen, spokesman for RetailNext, a San Jose-based retail analytics company.

Last year, brick-and-mortar sales fell 8.9 percent, and foot traffic dropped 4.4 percent on Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend compared to the same period in 2016, according to RetailNext. Foot traffic is projected to decline 4 percent to 5 percent at brick-and-mortar stores this Thanksgiving, the firm said.

Meanwhile, online Thanksgiving Day sales are projected to increase by 16.5 percent to $3.3 billion, according to Adobe Analytics, a division of San Jose, California-based software company Adobe Inc.

“Thanksgiving will still be a busy shopping [day], and Black Friday as well. They’ll just be smaller than years past in-store,” Hartjen said.

Long Islanders express mixed feelings about stores opening on Thanksgiving.

Kathy Behan, 50, a nurse who lives in Blue Point, would be shopping on Thanksgiving if she didn’t have to work a shift on the holiday, she said Tuesday at the Gateway Plaza shopping center in Patchogue.

Discounts make venturing into stores on the holiday worthwhile, she said: “People will do anything to save money.”

Tricia Christiano, 56, who lives in Farmingville, does not go to stores on Thanksgiving, but she will shop online, she said at Gateway Plaza.

“I’m sad that all these stores are open Thanksgiving. Nothing is sacred anymore,” she said. 

 Farmingdale-based electronics and appliance chain P.C. Richard & Son, which has 66 stores in four states, has never opened on Thanksgiving since its founding in 1909, President Gregg Richard said.

“It’s really not a holiday based on religion or any other belief.  It’s just an American tradition … I want my employees to be home with their families just like I am,” he said.

Plainview-based Denny’s, a children’s clothing chain with 12 stores in New York, New Jersey and Florida, has also never opened on Thanksgiving, and it has no plans to change that, said co-owner Jeffrey Klein, whose parents founded the business in 1978.

“To me, it’s always a family day. And it’s a day that I believe my employees should be off and relax. Business will resume on Friday with big Black Friday sales,” he said.

Huntington-based specialty toy retailer Little Switzerland Dolls & Toys has never opened on Thanksgiving in its 38-year history, owner Lily Bergh said.

“I find it disrespectful. … It’s not for me,” she said.

Consumers who shop on Thanksgiving don't spend more money than they would otherwise during the holiday season, but retailers that aren't open run the risk of losing out on sales to competitors that do welcome shoppers on the holiday, said retail expert Burt Flickinger III, who founded the Manhattan-based consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.  

Also, retailers saw that JCPenney, which had been struggling in 2016, had success last year when it offered a marathon shopping session, opening from 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving until 10 p.m. Black Friday, he said. It plans to repeat that schedule for the holiday this year.  

Another factor is that Walmart is open its regular hours on Thanksgiving Day; its Black Friday deals will start at 6 p.m. on the holiday.

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.