The 7 a.m.-to-noon openings will be the first time the venerable retailer has opened its stores on Thanksgiving in the 85 years it has operated retail stores.
Stores opening on Thanksgiving Day instead of waiting for "Black Friday" is nothing new. Sears Holdings' sister chain, Kmart, has done business on Thanksgiving Day for two decades. But the move by one of the icons of American retailing has generated buzz because it's symptomatic of a general trend over the past several years: the effort to extend the Christmas shopping season in the name of producing more revenue.
Consumer information and news sites are already awash with stories about retailers offering "Black Friday" deals and sales well ahead of the day itself. Special holiday shopping offers now nearly bump up against Halloween, and a few even predate it. All this is done to entice shoppers through the doors a little earlier in the hopes that they will spend a little more time and a lot more money shopping for Christmas presents and Hanukkah items.
Whether or not this succeeds at fattening bottom lines is another story. Another venerable American retailer, Macy's, already reports stronger-than-expected sales early in the season, and that's without any extra Early Black Friday sales push or Thanksgiving Day hours. (As of this writing, Macy's has announced no plans to open on Thanksgiving Day. Staging that parade is work enough for the company.) And shoppers themselves tell surveys that they intend to be careful with their holiday shopping dollars, which suggests that all this early frenzied promotion may prove to be a wash.
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By Sandy Smith
Sandy Smith is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his career in public relations and corporate communications. His work has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, PGN, and a number of Web sites. Philly-area residents may also recognize him as "MarketStEl" of discussion-board fame. He has been a part of the great reserve army of freelance writers since January 2009 and is actively seeking opportunities wherever they may lie.
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