This year, many stores are planning to open their doors late in the day on Thanksgiving in an attempt to lure Black Friday shoppers and their hard earned money into their stores. This move by retailers seems to have sparked a bit of an outrage among consumers and also among the employees of those stores. I love Black Friday and my husband and I have shopped on Black Friday every year for the past three years after we discovered how good the deals were. That said, I must agree with the employees and consumers that feel that starting sales on Thanksgiving Day is taking things too far.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, not just because I love the feasting but even more so because it is a time dedicated to counting our blessings and expressing our gratitude. I used to work in the hospitality industry at an inn and restaurant that served Thanksgiving dinner, and I often had to choose between working Thanksgiving and working Christmas. I did not always get my first choice and so I had to miss part of the Thanksgiving festivities, which made me sad. I can only imagine how the people feel that will now have to work when in the past they have had the day off because the stores were all closed.
As a consumer, I also do not feel like it is a good idea to try to get people to alter or cut short their family time on Thanksgiving so that they can go out and shop. Family time is a precious and limited resource, and it is essential to the health of our children and our families. I am wondering what everyone else is thinking about this issue? Will you be heading out Thursday evening, holding out until Friday morning, or neither?
Photo by cohdra on morguefile.com.