Business Beat: Black Friday? Try Thanksgiving evening

Back when I worked in retail, I remember grumbling about having to be at work at 6 a.m. in order to open the store at 8 a.m. for Black Friday.

Obviously, that was back in the Dark Ages, because 8 a.m. is practically midday for Black Friday shoppers these days, particularly in the larger chain stores. It started a few years ago with openings at midnight and has moved progressively earlier since then.

This week, some of them started announcing their Black Friday plans, and if you want to join the early crowds, you’d better eat that Thanksgiving dinner pretty early.

Kohl’s, Best Buy and Sears will be opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. JCPenney, which a couple of years ago declined to match the midnight openings of its competitors, has gone in the other direction this year, with an opening set at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Here in Merced, the mall is sticking with Friday.

“Merced Mall will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and open at 6 a.m. Black Friday,” mall manager Kathy Andrade said in an email. That doesn’t include the anchor department stores, of course, which set their own hours.

The Merced Mall folks aren’t alone in that decision. Several companies are publicizing their decision to remain closed on Thanksgiving, leading to what Time magazine referred to as “retail shaming.” That’s in response to backlash from some customers in recent years.

Some have started petitions to stores such as Target and Walmart, asking them to refrain from opening on Thanksgiving so their employees can celebrate the holiday with their families.

Those petitions haven’t gotten very far. Many Walmarts are open for 24 hours most days of the year, excluding Christmas itself. And although Target has not yet announced its Black Friday plans this year, I suspect it, too, will open its doors earlier than 2013’s 8 p.m. Thursday.

I can see both sides of the argument. Those who argue that the holidays have become too commercial have a point. But these are businesses and the holiday season is the most crucial time of the year for them. It makes sense that they will take nearly any step to get the jump on their competitors, and the jobs they provide are important to the economy.

I wonder why there isn’t such a backlash for other holidays. You could argue that Independence Day is as important a holiday to this country as Thanksgiving, but I haven’t heard of any outcry for retail businesses to close that day. And obviously, there are any number of professions – medicine, public safety, journalism (ahem) – that require working holidays.

For the record, the most unpleasant holiday shift I ever worked was in a fireworks booth on the Fourth of July some years back. The job actually was great fun, but the pay wasn’t great – I was a volunteer – and a tin box on hot asphalt isn’t the nicest place to be when it’s 104 degrees outside.

The Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce is planning its annual Cioppino Dinner and Auction and is looking for help. The event is set for Nov. 14 at St. Patrick’s Hall in Merced. The chamber said on its Facebook page this week that organizers are still looking for items for the live and silent auctions that evening.

For more information, or to donate, call the chamber at (209) 384-7092.

This story was originally published November 7, 2014 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Business Beat: Black Friday? Try Thanksgiving evening."