You Won’t Be Enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner Because Retailers Can’t Wait For Black Friday

It’s time to face facts: Retailers are jumping on the Let’s Start Offering Big Sales On Thanksgiving Day bandwagon left and right, so you probably won’t be enjoying your dinner very much this year. Target, Toys ‘R’ Us and Kohl’s have all announced they’ll be open earlier than ever on Thanksgiving this year, and Walmart probably will too.

Kohl’s will be open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving and will pay for the purchases of four customers selected at random at each of its stores starting that night, as well as four online shoppers. It did something similar last year but spread it out over a month, notes the Washington Post.

Target will also throw open its doors at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, an hour earlier than last year (which means less time for digestion, sigh).

Toys ‘R’ Us is going big with a three-hour shift from last year, to 5 p.m. from 8.

And although Walmart might’ve made some customers think it would ease up on Thanksgiving/Black Friday with some early discounts, it’s also set to announce today that it’ll start in-store specials at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. There will also be online discounts starting that morning, in case you thought you could focus on your family/watching football. It’ll also have 21 guaranteed items to customers standing in line during the first hour of Thanksgiving discounts, a big jump over last year’s three.

“Black Friday is the Super Bowl of retail, and it’s very important to us,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising and marketing officer for Wal-Mart U.S. “We anticipate a very competitive environment.”

Uh yeah, ya think? And when retailers compete, consumers get some good deals — but perhaps at the cost of a relaxing day filled with tryptophan naps.

On the up side — if retailers keep pushing back into Thanksgiving, maybe they’ll find themselves arriving at Wednesday as the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Then only your meal prep will be ruined instead of the entire day.

If it keeps going then we’ll just be like Canada and have Thanksgiving in October. Two months of Christmas, anyone?

Kohl’s, Target, Toys R Us add to early holiday shopping frenzy [Washington Post]

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