‘Black Friday Creep’ Spurs Petitions, Protests
Last year, retailers sparked a little controversy when they decided to start their black Friday sales at midnight. Well, the sales have started to creep a little further into Thanksgiving. Some stores will be starting the Christmas shopping season on Thanksgiving day.
Target, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Sears and KMart have all announced that they will be opening their stars right after Thanksgiving dinner. Target will open its doors at 9 pm on Thanksgiving. The other stores will all open an hour earlier.
Several retail workers have signed petitions to stop Black Friday creep. Wal-Mart employees are even threatening to walk out during Black Friday sales.
Making Change at Walmart Director Dan Schlademan said:
“This essentially cancels Thanksgiving for hundreds of thousands of workers. Lots and lots of Walmart workers are going to be forced to not have Thanksgiving because they’re going to be preparing all day for the busiest shopping day of the year.”
A Target employee started a petition at Change.org asking CEO Gregg W. Steinhafel to cancel “grey Thursday.”
“It’s one of few days retail employees get to spend with their families, but at this point there’s no time to see family … My issue is that Target and other retailers have done something they have never done before in opening on Thanksgiving. My anger is aimed at the loss of a day that, up until now, was considered important enough for only the most essential services to be open.”
What do you think about the sale hours? Are you going to go shopping right after Thanksgiving dinner? Do you think Black Friday will creep deeper into Thanksgiving next year?
