Mall Of America Closed: Only Three Stores Opened On Thanksgiving

Mall of America is sticking with its plans on staying closed on Thanksgiving. The nation’s largest mall made the shocking announcement that it would stay closed on Thanksgiving for the first time in years.

It looks like it’s really happening. Mall of America will stay closed on Thanksgiving. Only Macy’s and Sears will open its doors at 6 p.m. Both stores have their own exterior entrances. The Crayola Experience will also stay open through a third floor entrance from the parking ramp, closest to the store, according to the Globe Gazette.

Best Buy, which is planning to open most of its stores at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, will not be opening its doors at the Mall of America. The outlet notified its 520 store tenants because of the positive response to the decision to stay closed on Thanksgiving. The mall will be closing its doors at noon, after the national Walk to End Hunger ends that morning. Mall of America will keep its doors locked until 5 a.m. on Black Friday.

“The reaction from our retailers has been overwhelmingly positive and wholeheartedly supported,” mall spokesperson Dan Jasper said in an email to the Globe Gazette. “We are so pleased that our tenants have embraced this opportunity to give their employees the day to enjoy Thanksgiving with their families and friends.”

The mall will only have a handful of security and maintenance on staff as it does every day of the year, but Jasper says that they will mainly have a “limited number” of workers. Although many of the same stores will be open at other malls around the Twin Cities on this holiday, he said that the mall’s decision to close on Thanksgiving has caused a similar reaction for many.

“Many of our tenants who might have chosen to be open knew that if there’s only a handful of other retailers open, their odds of getting good traffic were not great,” he added.

Other malls across the nation will still plan to be open on Thanksgiving. For example, General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group will still open its doors on the holiday. In addition, many big box stores such as Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, Target, and Wal-Mart will still stay open on Thanksgiving.

But, there has been a push to roll back Black Friday on the actual day of. Known as the creep of Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, has received a strong reaction about those who grimace at the thought of making employees work on the holiday. Mall of America’s employees aren’t concerned about missing out on sales to other shopping centers. Officials said they expect to make the same sales during the Black Friday shopping weekend but in only three days instead of four.

Rosedale Center, which is home to 80 stores including Abercrombie & Fitch, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Express, Forever 21, and Foot Locker, are still opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. The mall’s officials say that Black Friday shopping has become an American staple.

“Shopping has become a popular activity for many families after the Thanksgiving meal,” the mall said in a statement to the StarTribune. “In setting our hours, we consider several factors including department store hours, retailer promotions, market trends, and shopper needs.”

Macy’s upset many when they announced that they would still open their doors on the holiday, amid the push to halt business on Thanksgiving Day. Macy’s has consistently opened on Thanksgiving Day since 2013, according to Retail Drive. It doesn’t look like the big-box retailers are going to slow down anytime soon, even if opening early on Thanksgiving has no impact on sales. Even Moody’s lead retail analyst Charlie O’Shea agrees with this theory.

“We doubt that the majority of specialty retailers benefit from involvement in this annual Thanksgiving opening arms race,” O’Shea wrote in a note published on Thursday and emailed to Retail Dive. “We believe most retailers would be best served shifting dollars spent on Thanksgiving openings by pulling their web specials forward and picking off some additional sales earlier in the week, and offering heavier in-store promotions over the weekend.”

Let us know your thoughts. What do you think about Mall of America shutting its doors on Thanksgiving? Do you think Black Friday shopping should happen on Friday only? Sound off below in the comments section.

[Featured Image by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images]