Among the first retailers to show its holiday-promotion cards, Target Corp. said Friday that its stores will for the first time open at midnight on Thanksgiving Day. Previously, stores had opened at 4:00 a.m.
Target also extended its store hours throughout the season, including:
- Nov. 25: Midnight to 11 p.m.
- Dec. 24: 7 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m.
- Dec. 26: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
In its statement, Target touted its "Price Match" policy and REDcard Rewards card as a way for holiday shoppers to further save money.
"The holidays bring hectic schedules and tight budgets, so extending store hours and offering lots of additional ways to save makes Target a great choice for affordable, one-stop holiday shopping," said Tina Schiel, executive vice president, stores, Target.
Thanksgiving Day also appears to be looming as a bigger selling opportunity. In the Denver-region, Target this year will be testing opening on Thanksgiving for the first time. According to The Denver Post, 29 stores in the region will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 24. Mark Everett, the executive who oversees area Target stores, said the retailer plans to evaluate the Denver test before deciding whether to expand Thanksgiving hours in other markets.
According to an announcement released this morning, for the first time Macy's will also try out a midnight opening "to kick off the 2011 holiday shopping season."
The Associated Press noted that most Sears and Kmart stores opened last year on Thanksgiving morning for the first time. Toys "R" Us stores last year opened at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. Old Navy began opening some stores on Thanksgiving during the day for a "Gobble Palooza" deal. Walmart, which has most of its supercenters open 24 hours, opened most of its other stores by midnight Thanksgiving evening last year.
Target's news came out as a survey from the Retrevo consumer shopping site last week found that the explosion of daily deal sites may impact bargains as a holiday-shopping incentive. The survey of over of 1,000 online individuals found that 70 percent of 2010's Black Friday shoppers are also members of deal sites. One of three of deal site members also said they buy almost everything on discount regardless of whether it's from a deal site or not.
"We are concerned about the average retailer's ability to provide high caliber deals this Black Friday and even the rest of the year to satisfy this emerging subculture of deal addicts," said Manish Rathi, Retrevo's vice president of marketing, in a statement.