As most of the Washington region’s residents slip blissfully into a turkey-induced sleep Thursday night, thousands of hard-core shoppers will be working off their Thanksgiving dinners at the mall for the earliest start ever to Black Friday’s doorbusters.
Stores such as Macy’s, Target and Best Buy are starting their Black Friday hours at midnight, up from the traditional early opening of 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. for most stores and area malls. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which started the midnight opening trend, is one-upping its competition and opening Walmarts at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving.
| Black Friday cheat sheet | |
| Opening at 10 p.m. Thursday: Walmart, Toys “R” Us (9 p.m.), Gap, Old Navy | |
| Opening at Midnight Friday: Most area malls including Montgomery Mall, Wheaton Mall, Tysons Corner; Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s and Macy’s. | |
| Sampling of store deals*: | |
| Barnes and Noble: Nook Simple Touch Limited Edition, $79 (regular $99) | |
| Kohl’s: 500 early bird specials available online Thursday or in stores at midnight Friday | |
| Walmart: 65″ Toshiba HD TV, $998 (regular $1,500) | |
| Macy’s : With any $65 fragrance purchase, get a free digital camera | |
| Best Buy: MacBook Pros and iMacs – $60 to $200 off | |
| Toys “R” Us: Leap Frog Learning game, $24.99 (regular $49.99) | |
| *Check store websites for deal expiration times | |
Toys “R” Us is following suit — with a 9 p.m. opening — as is Gap Inc. Retail experts said it won’t be long before others do the same, making Thursday the “new” Black Friday.
“The Thanksgiving opening is still relatively new but more are doing it every year,” said National Retail Federation spokeswoman Kathy Grannis. “You won’t see the crowds you see at 6 a.m. but there has to be something pretty valuable on sale to get people out at that hour … [and] it’ll be a storewide event.”
The late-night shopping is not for the faint of heart, however. Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s adults said they will not shop or are on the fence about shopping this weekend, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch. But that still leaves more than 77 million people nationwide who said they will hit the stores this weekend.
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“The lines are brutal, which is why I’ve always gone with someone else,” said Silver Spring resident Sherri Negley, who is going with her sister to Target at midnight. “One of us will get in line while the other shops — you have to have a buddy.”
Negley, who in previous years hit the early morning openings at stores, said she signs up ahead of time to receive email alerts about doorbusters and extra discounts. She typically finishes about 80-90 percent of her holiday shopping on Black Friday.
“It’s worth it,” she said.
But retail employees — who are also getting to the stores earlier than ever this year — are pushing back against the movement to start Black Friday before, well, Friday.
Ben Waxman, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers International union, said because of the nature of retail scheduling, employees only found out recently whether they were working on Thanksgiving. Employees typically arrive to work 30 to 90 minutes before opening.
“So if they can’t work or refuse to work [and don’t find a replacement] it could result in them losing hours or even their job,” he said.
The uproar caused one Target employee in Omaha, Neb., to circulate an online petition, “Tell Target to Save Thanksgiving,” which was started less than a month ago and boasted more than 198,000 signatures as of Wednesday.
Grannis said that long hours and unpredictably are simply part of the holiday season for those in retail. November and December sales often determine a retailer’s profit for that year.
“This is the time of year that the most is expected from this industry,” she said. “The bottom line is, these early openings are a direct result of consumer demand.”
Many employee gripes are coming from Walmart workers. According to Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo, associates are paid holiday pay but not overtime unless they have already worked 40 hours this week.
Waxman said it’s not having to work on Thanksgiving that is the main issue.
“It’s more that … they’re treating the employees like it doesn’t matter,” he said. “The company’s like, ‘It’s just another day,’ when we know it’s not.”
