Here's one big way the pandemic is changing holiday shopping
Retailers have been chided over the last decade for playing a divisive hand in allowing the holiday season to inch further and further away from Christmas by opening stores on Thanksgiving.
But this year, a growing number of retailers are announcing they will not open their doors on Thanksgiving, which falls on November 26, alleviating what could potentially be a dangerous scenario for employees and shoppers as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
As the emphasis moves away from shopping in brick-and-mortars and towards e-commerce, don’t expect the bedlam associated with Black Friday to happen in 2020. Nearly 9 in 10 shoppers said they don’t plan to shop the traditional in-store doorbuster deals on Thanksgiving, according to a new survey from RetailMeNot.
“It's a combination of retailers wanting to keep their people safe, they're wanting to keep the general population safe, and they’re responding to shoppers who might not necessarily be in their stores,” said Sara Skirboll, shopping & trends expert at RetailMeNot.
But make no mistake: the common goal of retailers is to sell their products to customers, which is why shoppers can expect sales to start as early as mid-October with the unofficial holiday shopping season kicking off now with the new 10.10 Shopping Festival running from Oct. 9-12 and Amazon Prime Day falling on Oct. 13 and 14 — well in advance of Black Friday on Nov. 27.
And industry-insiders like Skirboll say that the retailers are going to “lean heavily on online promotion.”
Here are the stores that are officially closed on Thanksgiving Day 2020.
Academy Sports and Outdoors
Bed Bath & Beyond
Best Buy
Boscov’s
Costco
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Foot Locker
The Home Depot
JCPenney
Kohl’s
Lamps Plus
Lowe’s
Macy’s
Office Depot/OfficeMax
Publix
REI
Sam’s Club
Simon Property Group
Target
Ulta
Under Armour
The Outlet Resource Group
Walmart
Stephanie is a reporter for Yahoo Money and Cashay, a new personal finance website. She can be reached at stephanie.asymkos@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @SJAsymkos.
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