Target closing on Thanksgiving

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
storewanderer
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Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by storewanderer »

Also says this is going to be forever.

Over on other employee message boards, various Target employees are noting they are scheduled until 11:59 PM on Wednesday night, then due back in at 12:01 AM on Friday morning. So yes, technically off Thanksgiving.

I was thinking it is a good way to get out of paying holiday pay (past Thanksgivings I went into Target, the place was way overstaffed in the evening) but it appears those who work that 12:01 AM shift Friday morning will get the time and a half.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by Alpha8472 »

Sales on Thanksgiving were probably not that great. If employees are standing around doing nothing, it is not worth it to pay them. Retail stores realize that they have to keep their employees somewhat happy or else they will quit. A holiday twice a year on Thanksgiving and Christmas might be enough to appease the employees so that they will not quit. A happy employee is an employee that will work better and provide better customer service.

Customers are totally exhausted from shopping all the time. They also need a day to relax and take a break. Then after a day of rest they will be energized to go out and shop all day and spend like crazy on Black Friday. Shopping on Thanksgiving when you are exhausted and tired is a chore.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by J-Man »

Also says this is going to be forever.
By "forever," they mean "until we get a new CEO," or "until Wall Street pressures us to raise our bottom line by any means necessary."
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 23rd, 2021, 11:03 pm Also says this is going to be forever.

Over on other employee message boards, various Target employees are noting they are scheduled until 11:59 PM on Wednesday night, then due back in at 12:01 AM on Friday morning. So yes, technically off Thanksgiving.

I was thinking it is a good way to get out of paying holiday pay (past Thanksgivings I went into Target, the place was way overstaffed in the evening) but it appears those who work that 12:01 AM shift Friday morning will get the time and a half.
I am not sure how early Target opens on Black Friday these days, but I will say that in the early 1990s that the store opened to a mob of 250-300 people early, either 6AM or 7AM (at the time regular hours were 9-9) Staffing early to get the store ready for the rush is somewhat justified.

Ironically, one of the first big box stores to open on Thanksgiving (sometime during the 1990s) was Kmart, they were often the only big box open back in the day.

I have noticed more businesses deciding to close on Thanksgiving Day this year, both large and small.

One thing I have found interesting is how Safeway has been OPEN Christmas Day for the last few years. They are about the only supermarket open...I guess they fill a need for Christmas cooking etc. But I am not sure it is necessary when you have stores like Walgreens as well as many convenience stores open.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by babs »

Alpha8472 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 12:37 am Sales on Thanksgiving were probably not that great. If employees are standing around doing nothing, it is not worth it to pay them. Retail stores realize that they have to keep their employees somewhat happy or else they will quit. A holiday twice a year on Thanksgiving and Christmas might be enough to appease the employees so that they will not quit. A happy employee is an employee that will work better and provide better customer service.

Customers are totally exhausted from shopping all the time. They also need a day to relax and take a break. Then after a day of rest they will be energized to go out and shop all day and spend like crazy on Black Friday. Shopping on Thanksgiving when you are exhausted and tired is a chore.
Thanksgiving Day has turned into one of the top online sales days of the year. I guess those shoppers aren't that exhausted to click and buy.

On a side note, I noticed in the past that the Thanksgiving Day shopper was different. Heavily Asian and Indian. Very few Caucasians. Not sure why, might have something to do with lack of Thanksgiving Day traditions among some groups.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by Alpha8472 »

Online shopping is much less exhausting than in-store shopping. I think that people prefer that stores are closed on Thanksgiving as it gives them time to rest and they can order with out any physical exertion. The worst part of Black Friday is all the waiting in lines, walking miles in stores, and the parking.

When you are at a boring Thanksgiving get-together, you wind up spending hours on your phone. Why not buy something while you are at it?

The big retailers like closing on holidays. It decreases employee payroll and increases sales without the cost of brick and mortar store operations.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: November 24th, 2021, 10:25 pm

On a side note, I noticed in the past that the Thanksgiving Day shopper was different. Heavily Asian and Indian. Very few Caucasians. Not sure why, might have something to do with lack of Thanksgiving Day traditions among some groups.
And this may be something these retailers need to consider. It may be appropriate to open locations on Thanksgiving Day where the demographics are strongly representing a customer and employee base that does not even celebrate Thanksgiving.

I believe this has gone on for years in certain areas with grocery stores and Christmas in areas with heavy Jewish populations.

This is where you see things painted with a broad brush - We are going to close on Thanksgiving day - "FOREVER" - it is not so simple. I am sure management said the same thing in the 90's when considering whether to open on Thanksgiving Day as they saw Kmart opening on Thanksgiving Day. We don't need to open on Thanksgiving Day; we are not desperate for sales; we are better than that. Then come the 10's and what changed?
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by ClownLoach »

I work for one of the very first Thanksgiving day retailers from the 90's - we stopped being open last year and did not go back this year. All that has happened is that the sales from Friday get pulled into Thursday. It was very consistent - if sales were up $5K Thursday they would be down $5K Friday. Although it was nice to spread the sales out to reduce crowding - it is better to just be closed Thursday, let the team have a nice day with their families, and then take all the sales with a full team Friday. The store is better staffed and can open every single register - and yes overall the store is saving payroll by not having to pay a Thanksgiving premium. More customers all shopping and a longer line, but more people to handle it.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by storewanderer »

Were any retailers open today?

Beyond grocers, 99 Cents Only, drug stores, I did not see anyone open. Macy's was open only for curbside pick up but appeared to have 30-40 employees working inside the store today. Quite a process for pick-up, seemed to involve two loss prevention agents to get the door open and oversee things plus an employee to walk it out to the vehicle. I can't see how it made sense economically to do this today.

I used to kind of like going to the various stores at 9 PM on Thanksgiving night but from the time it first started (I feel like Comp USA was one of the first I saw to do the Thanksgiving night opening) there was something about it that just made me question the why.
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Re: Target closing on Thanksgiving

Post by cjd »

storewanderer wrote: November 26th, 2021, 12:30 am Were any retailers open today?

Beyond grocers, 99 Cents Only, drug stores, I did not see anyone open. Macy's was open only for curbside pick up but appeared to have 30-40 employees working inside the store today. Quite a process for pick-up, seemed to involve two loss prevention agents to get the door open and oversee things plus an employee to walk it out to the vehicle. I can't see how it made sense economically to do this today.

I used to kind of like going to the various stores at 9 PM on Thanksgiving night but from the time it first started (I feel like Comp USA was one of the first I saw to do the Thanksgiving night opening) there was something about it that just made me question the why.
I did not go into town but even grocers here were closed on Thanksgiving. Both Publix which I believe always closed on that day, as well as Winn Dixie which has either recently started closing or did when it was acquired by Bi-Lo. (I thought they were already closed, but the comments on their FB page made it seem like it was a new change.)

Wednesday evening I did some shopping at Walmart and noticed giant boxes of items in the aisles already in preparation for Black Friday. Some of the aisles, such as in the hardware section, you could not even go down at all because the gigantic boxes took up the entire aisles. As well as the typical pallets in the middle of main access aisles.
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