Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday — just a time to get together with friends and family, to eat, to relax, and to reflect.
Thankfully, no one in my family has ever considered shopping on Black Friday, unless it’s a wander through downtown Frankfort (my hometown) to Poor Richard’s Books.
But I’ve known many people over the years who have lined up early at major chains and scored some pretty sweet deals on electronics, Christmas gifts, even major appliances.
In a consumer-based economy, people have to shop sometime, and the day after Thanksgiving, when many folks aren’t working and when Christmas is in sight, makes a lot of sense for some shoppers. For those who work in retail, the demands of long hours on Black Friday have just been a part of the job.
I’m not the first to bemoan the latest trend of stores opening on Thanksgiving day, but let me add my voice to the chorus of complaint anyway.
The most depressing thing about the earlier shopping hours: the marketing ploy will probably work. If people could line up before midnight in freezing cold, why wouldn’t they have Thanksgiving dinner for breakfast and then race to the strip mall?
The Best Buy in Savannah opens at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, which means that some employees will have to be there hours earlier. The store then remains open straight through the night until 10 p.m. on Friday. h.h. gregg nearby opens at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving (such restraint!) and also stays open all night and all day Friday.
This is happening all across the country, of course, at a variety of stores, impacting the lives of millions of Americans who have to see their family members cut Thanksgiving short so that they can go to work.
The Thanksgiving day shoppers are cutting into their holidays by their own choice, but the earlier hours are undoubtedly affecting some folks’ decades-long traditions. And for what? A slightly better deal on a TV than one can find the following day or the following week?
I write a lot about retail businesses — from small, individually owned ones to the major chains — and I see the ways in which a robust retail environment can provide solid jobs, improve quality of life, and even expand individual freedom.
But, to be blunt, I find this trend toward Thanksgiving day shopping slightly sickening.
So I hope most Americans will sit this one out. Maybe a slower than expected Thursday will prompt some retailers to scale back the hours so that we’re left with the usual Black Friday mania, which has served large corporations well for a long time.