Macy's announces Black Friday hours starting on Thanksgiving

Plan on eating dinner early this Thanksgiving or you might miss all the holiday deals--Macy's has just announced that they will open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and other retailers are expected to follow suit. Will you shop on Thanksgiving this year? 

Black Friday sales are creeping into Thanksgiving, to such an extent that Macy's — which is traditionally closed on Thanksgiving — is already inquiring about its employees' work availability on November 28. But Macy's isn't the only retailer caught up in the Black Friday store hours creep. Based on last year's patterns, we expect a multitude of stores to be open on Thanksgiving Day.

The Race to Be First: Black Friday Store Hours on Thanksgiving

Black Friday is without a doubt one of the busiest shopping days of the year, and as a result, we've seen stores open their doors earlier and earlier with each passing season. In fact, 180 stores at the Mall of America broke tradition last year and opened their doors at midnight on Black Friday, the earliest ever. But why wait until Friday when a retailer can open on Thanksgiving Day? Traditionally, Macy's, which already gets a lot of media attention with its Thanksgiving Day Parade, has delayed opening its doors until midnight on Black Friday. 

This year, however, Macy's will open at 8 pm on Thanksgiving, four hours earlier than it has in the past. This early opening will likely require employees to begin their shifts no later than 7:30 pm on Thanksgiving, effectively cutting into tryptophan recovery time ... and time spent with family on the holiday. And for as much as we've seen employees oppose earlier Black Friday store hours, unfortunately, this is a trend that's unstoppable. Last year Target, Walmart, and Sears were just a few of the major retailers to welcome early bird shoppers on Thursday rather than early Friday morning.

Among the stores to open earliest last year were Kmart, Old Navy, and Toys "R" Us, each of which opened their doors on Thanksgiving at 6 am, 9 am, and 11:30 am, respectively. And with retailers claiming record-breaking sales figures last year, you can bet that even more stores, malls, and shopping centers will make like Macy's and open their doors on Thanksgiving Day this year.

Readers, what do you think of Macy's Thanksgiving store hours? Should stores open as early as possible on Thanksgiving Day so shoppers can get their deals, or would you rather they stick to the traditional after-midnight Black Friday hours?

In the meantime, if all this sounds overwhelming, be sure to check out our Black Friday deals page where we'll be keeping you up to date on everything Black Friday. Or you can bookmark this page, which we'll update periodically as new store hours are officially announced.

Will you shop on Thanksgiving this year?

 Louis Ramirez is a senior features writer for Dealnews.com, where this article first appeared 

Original post: http://dealnews.com/features/black-friday-store-hours/