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America Turns Pointless Thanksgiving Day Into Black Thursday Shopping Spree
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Nov 12, 2014
Modified Nov 12, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Nov 12, 2014
Modified Nov 12, 2014
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Two of New Jersey's biggest malls—the Westfield Garden State Plaza and the Paramus Park mall—will be open from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. This is a first for both malls, and it falls in line with a troubling trend in which retailers start kicking off their holiday sales earlier and earlier, encroaching on the national holiday. Is it just a matter of time before Black Friday begins on Wednesday morning? Will we start doling out cranberry sauce in the plasma TV aisle? What's going on here?
The Garden State Plaza is the biggest mall in New Jersey, and a spokesperson for the mall told The Record that feedback from retailers and shoppers has prompted the Thanksgiving opening. "The reason we’re opening on Thanksgiving is because of the enthusiasm for the earlier and earlier openings over the past few years," she said. This follows on the heels of news that RadioShack would be open from 8 a.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving, though apparently they've since agreed to close between noon and 5 p.m. thanks to an outcry from employees.
And a mall in upstate New York has gone so far as to fine tenant retailers that won't open on the holiday. "We're just stuck following the rules, because if we didn't, we'd be fined by the mall and being a small company, that's substantial to us. We can't just pay that. We have to stay open," Shaun Deutsch, manager of a Tee Shirt University store at the Walden Galleria near Buffalo, told a local news station.
Stores have been opening earlier and earlier during the Thanksgiving/Black Friday block, and last year about 71 percent of Walmart employees worked on the holiday. Then again, those employees were offered "an additional day's pay, which will equal the worker's average daily pay in the 12 previous weeks," according to the company, and some have argued that employees and shop owners like getting the extra work. "For me, as an independent retailer, it’s a chance to make some money,” Buddy Kurzweil, the owner of a sports store at the Paramus Park Mall, told the Record.
In addition to Walmart and Radio Shack, Target, Macy's, J.C. Penney, Best Buy and Toys R Us will all open by 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Eat your pumpkin pie in the car, then give thanks for 20 percent off on Beats By Dre.
Tagged
garden state plaza
paramus park mall
retailers
thanksgiving
walmart
Rebecca Fishbein
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