Though many of the big box stores now open for Black Friday at some point on Thanksgiving, some retailers and mall owners have fought back against this trend. For the second year in a row, one of the nation’s largest mall operators has declared that its properties’ doors will remain shut this Thanksgiving. [More]
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GameStop Will Open On Thanksgiving This Year Because… Employees Want To?
By 8.1.17 — Updated: 8.2.17
For the last few years, GameStop, likely owner of your local AT&T store, has decided not to take part in the Thanksgiving Day retail frenzy in much of the rest of the mall. This year, though, there’s a new Nintendo console to sell, and employees asked the chain to open up on the holiday. Wait, what? [More]
Your Holiday Shopping Could Get More Expensive, Thanks To UPS
By 6.19.17
If you were planning to do your holiday shopping from the comfort of home, scooping up bargains with a click, you should know that you may have to pay a little more this year since UPS is tacking on a holiday delivery surcharge during the busiest weeks of the year. [More]
When Is The Best Time To Buy A New TV?
By 12.29.16
Are you in the market for a new television? If so, your timing is good. While it’s common wisdom that TV deals are the best around the time of the Super Bowl, sales data also show that’s true. [More]
Customers Complain When Walmart Won’t Honor Pricing Error That Listed 70″ TV For $99
By 12.5.16
If you see a TV that normally sells for $2,000 suddenly listed for sale at $99, you probably know it’s either stolen, worthless, or — most likely — a pricing error. You’re free to try to take advantage of that goof, but you don’t really have much of a legal leg to stand on if they realize the error and cancel your order.
[More]
Patagonia Says It Raised $10 Million For Charity From Black Friday Sale
By 11.29.16
Outdoor outfitter Patagonia attracted positive attention when it announced that it would be open on Black Friday, but donate all of its sales (not its profits: all sales) from retail stores and its website to environmental charities. Now the sales have been tallied, and the retailer took in a total of $10 million. [More]
Cyber Monday Is Now Pretty Pointless
By 11.28.16
Since 2005, Cyber Monday has been the end of Thanksgiving week, as office workers’ brains haven’t quite returned to work, and they use the time to shop online. At least, this is what online retailers must themselves as they schedule sales and other promotions for the additional shopping holiday. Yet is Cyber Monday still a thing, or do we all have shopping holiday fatigue by the time it comes around? [More]
Retailers Move Sales Earlier In Thanksgiving Week, Begin Black Friday Creep
By 11.23.16
Maybe it doesn’t matter whether retailers open on Thanksgiving Day or not. Trying to attract our dollars and our attention, stores moved their deals even farther back this year, in a holiday season arms race that will only end when they’ve gone all of the way around the calendar, and sales for the following year begin on Black Friday. [More]
Patagonia Will Donate All Black Friday Sales To Charity
By 11.21.16
Outdoor outfitter REI is staying closed on Black Friday and encouraging customers and employees alike to spend the day enjoying the outdoors. Well, Patagonia, a company that has its own outdoorsy retail stores in addition to supplying REI, decided to do something different to work against commercialization of a shopping holiday: the company plans to donate all of its Black Friday sales to environmental charities. [More]
Which Stores Are Open On Thanksgiving & When Do They Open On Black Friday?
By 11.19.16 — Updated: 11.21.16
Thanksgiving is usually the big day on the calendar in November, but this year the holiday took a backseat to Election Day — so much so that many people say they delayed the start of their holiday shopping until after the votes had been counted. Now here we are, with only a few days to go before Thanksgiving (and, more importantly to some folks, Black Friday); you’ll need to know which stores are opening when in order to maximize your shopping efficiency. [More]
JCPenney Handing Out $500 Coupons To Lure Shoppers On Thanksgiving
By 11.11.16
Even though JCPenney is starting its Black Friday sales online next Wednesday, the retailer is still hoping it can convince some folks that they’d rather be shopping in physical stores on Thanksgiving than spending time with loved ones/taking turkey-induced naps by offering up coupons worth $500 off to the first people to come through the doors. [More]
Sears Will Open On Thanksgiving Then Close For Five Hours
By 11.8.16
For every retailer like REI, hhgregg, and TJMaxx that proudly announces they are bucking the trend of opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day, there’s a counterpart sticking to its guns and opening to holiday shoppers on an actual holiday. To that end: Sears will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Will Once Again Open At 5 PM On Thanksgiving, Stay Open For 30 Hours Straight
By 11.7.16
Toys ‘R’ Us apparently subscribes to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” logic when it comes to shopping hours for Thanksgiving: the toy store is once again opening its doors at 5 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving, and will keep those doors open for 30 hours in a row. [More]
Here Are The Trends We See In This Year’s Black Friday Ads
By 11.4.16
Every year, the Black Friday ad flyers for major retailers “leak” online, giving shoppers an opportunity to pore over them well before the hefty Thanksgiving newspaper arrives on their doorsteps, if they receive a Thanksgiving newspaper at all. [More]
JCPenney Kicks Off Black Friday The Wednesday Before Thanksgiving
By 11.2.16
Last year, JCPenney waited around until Thanksgiving Day to begin its Black Friday/Shopping Frenzy Week deals. This year, the department store chain has decided that’s way too late, and plans to start its deals even earlier: all of its advertised specials for Black Friday will be available on Wednesday. [More]
Yeah, Black Friday Deals Are Pretty Much The Same Every Year
By 11.1.16
People usually don’t save their Black Friday circulars from year to year, because that would be really weird. Here’s the thing, though: the deals on the shopping holiday aren’t that great to begin with, and they also repeat from year to year. [More]
REI Tells Everyone To Go Play Outside On Black Friday Again
By 10.24.16
While other retailers debate whether they should open on Thanksgiving Day or not, last year outdoor gear co-op REI had a novel idea: it wouldn’t just keep its doors closed on the holiday, but it would close on the biggest shopping day of the year as well. That apparently worked out for them, and the retailer is doing the same again this year. [More]
Report: Macy’s To Open An Hour Earlier On Thanksgiving Day
By 10.17.16
While the trend of not opening on Thanksgiving Day and making sure everyone knows it spreads across the retailscape, some stores are sticking with the previous trend of opening on the holiday. One example: Macy’s, which apparently has been so successful with the practice that it’s reportedly moving its Thanksgiving Day opening time back an hour, to 5 PM. [More]
