Keep It Local Holiday Shopping Guide 5
Thanksgiving Day
shopping is
BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Thanksgiving Day
shopping — a delight to some, an
anathema to others — isn’t going
away, but some stores are rethinking
their strategies on whether it makes
sense to be open on the holiday itself.
Many of the nation’s major mall
operators and the big retailers that
anchor them, such as Toys R Us, J.C.
Penney, and Macy’s, are sticking with
what they want to be a new tradition,
kicking off the holiday shopping sea
son on Thanksgiving Day.
Others, including the Mall of Ameri
ca, the nation’s largest shopping mall,
are closing for Thanksgiving this year
after being open for the past several
years. Some retailers that are clos
ing cite respect for the holiday, but in
truth the cost of being open may be
more than the return.
“Once you let the genie out of the
bottle, it’s hard,” said Stephen D. Lebo-
vitz, president and CEO of CBL & As
sociates Properties, a mall operator
that is closing 72 of its malls for the
day. “More retailers are coming to
their senses and realizing it is a fam
ily holiday and from a business point
of view, it’s not making much business
sense.”
Stores being open on Thanksgiving
started in earnest in 2011 and took a
punch out of sales on Black Friday,
which had usually launched the shop
ping season. Many places like Macy’s,
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here to stay
“Once you let the genie out of
the bottle, it's hard."
Stephen D. Lebovitz
president, CEO
CBL & Associates Properties
Target and J.C. Penney have been
opening earlier and earlier on Thanks
giving as they try to outdo others to
get first dibs on customers who could
easily buy online. But the move has
been controversial, as many workers
have voiced complaints that stores are
putting profits over workers’ time to
be with their families.
Some 89 of the 145 properties that
Chattanooga, Tennessee-based CBL
owns or has interest in opened at 6
p.m. on the holiday last year. While
dozens of those will be closed this
year, the department stores, movie
theaters, restaurants and retailers with
exterior entrances have the option to
open on Thanksgiving. Other retailers
including Office Depot and consumer
electronics chain hhgregg Inc. plan to
be closed after being open for the past
several years.
Plenty of retailers, particularly high-
end stores like Nordstrom or those
like T.J. Maxx that offer discounts
every day, never opened on Thanks
giving and have collected goodwill be-
See SHOPPING, PAGE 7
613 EAST MAIN STREET, ELIZABETH CITY
252-33 1-2550 |^^