Gray Thursday

Here’s a Guide to What Time Stores Open Thanksgiving Day

November 13, 2018 By Alexa Mason 5 Comments

In recent years, Black Friday and Thanksgiving have meshed into one day for retailers. Instead of having the day off, many retail employees have to report to work on Thanksgiving Day for early Black Friday sales. Walmart, most famously, has staggered deals on Thanksgiving on the hour starting at 6 p.m. Other retailers have held on to tradition and remain closed. So, here is what time stores open Thanksgiving Day.

Is There a Set Time Stores Open Thanksgiving?

No. There is no set time that stores open on Thanksgiving Day or “Gray Thursday.” For the most part, retailers wait until the evening hours before opening for sales. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. Certain stores will open as early as 6 a.m.

6 a.m.

Meijer: Meijer will be open on Thanksgiving if you’re in need of some last-minute items for your feast. Check with your local store for closing hours.

7 a.m.

Big Lots: Big Lots is one of few retailers remaining open all day Thursday and Friday. They will open at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving and will stay open until the normal closing time Friday.
Dollar General: Dollar General will hold regular hours (7 a.m. to 10 p.m.) on Thanksgiving.
Rite Aid: Most Rite Aid locations will open at 7 a.m. Thursday. Check with your local store for hours.

8 a.m.

AAFES Exchange: The store that aims to help you save will open at 8 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.
Bass Pro Shops: Bass Pro Shops will close be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Cabela’s: This retailer will be open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
CVS: CVS Pharmacy will be open at 8 a.m. Check your local store for their closing time.
Family Dollar: Family Dollar will hold its regular Thursday hours (8 a.m. to 9 p.m.).
Gander Mountain: To compete with Bass Pro Shops, Gander Mountain will be open at 8 a.m. as well.
Walgreens: Walgreens will open at 8 a.m. Closing hours may vary by location.

9 a.m.

Fred’s: Fred’s will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

1 p.m.

Goody’s: Goody’s will be opening at 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Closing hours may vary by location.
Stage Stores: Stage Stores will be opening at 1 p.m.

2 p.m.

JCPenny: JCPenny will be opening at an odd time this year. Most locations will open their doors at 2 p.m. and remain open until midnight.
Shopko: Shopko locations will be opening at 2 p.m.

3 p.m.

Dunham’s Sports: If you have a Dunham’s near you they’ll be open at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

4 p.m.

Belk: Belk opens its doors at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving and will remain open until 1 a.m.
Gamestop: Most Gamestop locations will open at 4 p.m. The closing time will depend on the store. Some locations may be open through Friday night.
Old Navy: Old Navy is another retailer that will be open on Thanksgiving. They’ll open their doors at 4 p.m.

5 p.m.

Best Buy: Best Buy will open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Gordmans: Gordmans doors will open at 5 p.m. Closing hours may vary by location.
Kohl’s: Like last year, Kohl’s will open at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Macy’s: Macy’s will be open from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m.
MC Sports: Areas, where MC Sports are located, will find them to be open after 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

6 p.m.

Bealls Florida: Bealls will open at 6 p.m. and close at 11 p.m.
Boscovs: This retailer is open from 6 p.m. until 1 a.m.
Dick’s Sporting Goods: Dick’s will be open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving with most locations closing at 2 a.m.
Five Below: Score amazing deals at Five Below from 6 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving.
Michaels: One of the most popular craft stores will be open from 6 p.m. until midnight and, of course, Michaels has some great deals planned.
Modell’s: Much like Dick’s, Modell’s will be opening at 6 p.m. Closing times will vary from location-to-location.
Sears: All Sears locations will be opening at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Target: Target will also be opening at 6 p.m. and most locations will be open until midnight.
Ulta: If you’re looking for great deals on makeup, Ulta will be open from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m.
Walmart: Walmart will be open at 6 p.m. However, some locations may open their doors a bit earlier for shoppers to get on line.

Stores Remaining Closed on Thanksgiving Day

Not all retailers will have hours on Thanksgiving Day. Some have decided to allow their employees to enjoy the holiday with a day off. The retailers listed below will remain closed on the holiday.

A.C. Moore
Academy Sports
Ace Hardware
Acme Tools
American Girl
AT&T
Barnes & Noble
Bed Bath & Beyond
BJ’s
Burlington
Costco
Christopher & Banks
Crate & Barrel
Cost Plus World Market
Dillard’s
DressBarn
Designer Shoe Warehouse
Fred Meyer
Guitar Center
H&M Stores
Harbor Freight
Hobby Lobby
Home Depot
Home Goods
Ikea
Joann Fabrics
Jos. A Bank
La-z-boy
Lowe’s
Marshalls
Neiman Marcus
Nordstrom (and Nordstrom Rack)
Office Depot and Office Max
Pier 1 Imports
Petco
Petsmart
Pet Supplies Plus
Publix
REI
Sam’s Club
Sears Outlet Stores
Staples
Stein Mart
TJ Maxx
Tractor Supply

Save More Money on Thanksgiving

If you’re thinking about hitting the stores on Thanksgiving, you are not alone! You should remember one important money-saving rule before heading out: Make a list and stick to it.

Have your Christmas shopping list handy and map out which deals you’re going to shop ahead of time. Budget how much you’re going to spend and stick to that plan. Anything you purchase that wasn’t initially on the list (impulse buys) is wasted money.

List of Stores Closed on Thanksgiving Day 2017

November 21, 2017 By Alexa Mason 29 Comments

There was a time when Thanksgiving Day meant major retail outlets were closed for the day. That’s no longer the case. Even though it only started three years ago with a few retailers making the decision to open their doors on Thanksgiving Day to get an early jump on the holiday shopping season, it’s now becoming the norm. Since then, more and more retailers have decided it’s in their financial interest to also open their doors.

There are two arguments to this trend, with both sides looking at the issue quite differently. The stores which open on Thanksgiving Day (also called Gray Thursday or Black Thursday) argue consumers like to have an extra day to shop for the holiday season which gives them more flexibility and point to the fact that if consumers really didn’t like the idea, they wouldn’t come when their doors open. They also argue that if their competitors are open for the day, and they fail to follow suit, they will lose sales to them. In fact, for many retailers, Thanksgiving Day has become the new Black Friday when the best deals will be available.

On the other side, those who advocate retailers should remain closed argue Thanksgiving is a holiday about family and thankfulness and should be spent with family. Retailers who open stores on this day are keeping their employees away from their families because they have to work. They also note that being open on Thanksgiving doesn’t actually increase overall holiday sales for the retailers, but simply displaces sales which consumers would have made on Black Friday or some other later date. In other words, Thanksgiving sales don’t generate more overall sales, but they are at the expense of Black Friday which will be lower if the stores also open on Gray Thursday.

Stores Closed on Thanksgiving

Although the trend is for stores to open on Thanksgiving Day, even if it’s only for a few hours, there are some retailers who still refuse to follow suit. In fact, they are some of the biggest cheerleaders in trying to shame those retailers who do open for Gray Thursday. Below you’ll find a list of 50 stores (and counting) which have announced they will remain closed on Thanksgiving to give their employees the day off with their families.

Small Independent Local Shops
Apple Stores
Barnes & Noble
Bed, Bath and Beyond
BJ’s Wholesale Club
Burlington Coat Factory
Christmas Tree Shops
Christopher and Banks
Costco Warehouse
Crate & Barrel
Dillard’s
Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW)
Guitar Center
H&M
Half Price Books
Harbor Freight
Hobby Lobby
HomeGoods
Home Depot
Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts
Lowe’s
Marshalls
Menards
Mills Fleet Farm
Nordstrom
Northern Tool
Office Depot and Office Max
Patagonia
Pep Boys
Petco
Petsmart
REI
Sam’s Club
Sam Ash
Sears HomeTown and Sears Outlet Stores
Sportsman’s Warehouse
Staples
TJ Maxx
Tractor Supply
True Value

If you know of another store that will remain closed on Thanksgiving Day, please leave the name of the retailer in the comments so we can add it to this growing list of stores that won’t be open on November 23, 2017.

Wondering what stores WILL be open? Check out “What Time Stores Open on Thanksgiving 2017.”

Stores Open and Closed on Thanksgiving Day 2014

November 25, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 2 Comments

Stores that are open and closed on Thanksgiving day

It wasn’t too long ago that all major retailers remained closed on Thanksgiving Day waiting for the stroke of midnight to open their doors for all the black Friday deals. That’s no longer the case. More and more retail stores are opening their doors at earlier and earlier times on Thanksgiving Day, while others refuse to fall prey to this new trend by keeping their doors shut. This all makes for a lot of confusion for consumers who don’t know which stores will be open or what time they will be opening. Below you’ll find a list of some of the more popular retailers, whether they are open on Thanksgiving Day, and if they are, what time they will open. You can also access more comprehensive list of the stores that will be open and stores that will be closed on Thanksgiving.

While it’s probably in your financial and family interest to avoid shopping on Thanksgiving Day, it’s also the day that will offer the greatest discounts over the Thanksgiving weekend.

If you do decide to go shopping on Thanksgiving day, don’t forget the most important rule. You’re only getting a good deal if the purchases you make were planned purchases. If you were never planning to buy the item until you saw the deal, it’s not a deal at all. Instead, it’s a price induced impulse purchase. You end up spending money you never planned to spend, and when you do that for something that’s not a need, it’s never a good deal.

The following retail stores are opened and closed on Thanksgiving Day:

Walmart Stores

Walmart is open Thanksgiving Day. Walmart is open everyday of the year now for some period of time except for Christmas Day. While it’s open on November 27, stores aren’t open during their normal business hours. Walmart stores open at 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Costco Warehouse

Costco is closed Thanksgiving Day. Costco is closed six days during the year, and Thanksgiving Day is one of them. If you need to stock up at the warehouse, you’ll need to do it before November 28. Costco opens on Friday, November 28 an hour earlier than it usually does (9:00 am instead of 10:00 am) for Black Friday.

Target Stores

Target is open Thanksgiving Day. Target is one of the retailers that has decided to open it’s doors early in November 27, although the best deal being offered at Target is on Black Friday. For those who want to hit the store early, it open at 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day.

BJ’s Wholesale

BJ’s Wholesale is closed Thanksgiving Day. BJ’s is another store which has decided to remain closed on November 28 so that employees can enjoy the day with their families. BJ’s will open on Black Friday at 7:00 am.

JC Penny

JC Penny is open Thanksgiving Day. JC Penny is supposed to have the highest percentage discounts this Black Friday weekend with savings of over 65 percent. JC Penny is also getting an hour jump on many of the other major retailers by opening its doors at 5:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Macy’s

Macy’s is open Thanksgiving Day. All Macy’s stores will open on Thanksgiving Day with some big discounts (the store ranks as the #2 behind JC Penny for best discounts offered for Black Friday weekend with savings of over 50%). Macy’s will open at 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Sears

Sears is open Thanksgiving Day. Sears will be opening its doors on November 28, and will be joining both Walmart and Target in opening its doors at 6:00 pm. It’s supposed to have the best percentage discounts on clothes at over 70 percent off regular retail prices.

Kmart

Kmart is open Thanksgiving Day. Kmart has decided to leave no pretense that Thanksgiving should be a day to spend time with family and friends, and it’s treating the entire day as one for shopping. While most retailers won’t open until the evening, Kmart is opening its doors at 6:00 am (yest, that’s in the morning and not a typo) on Thanksgiving Day.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s is closed Thanksgiving Day. If you are planning to do some work on the house on Thanksgiving, you should buy the items you’ll need for the project before Thursday since Lowe’s is one of the retailers refusing to open its doors on Thanksgiving Day. Lowe’s opens at 5:00 am on Black Friday.

Home Depot

Home Depot is closed Thanksgiving Day. Home Depot stores, much like Lowe’s, has made the decision to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day to let their employees have the day off with their families. Home Depot will open its doors at 5:00 am the day after Thanksgiving.

Best Buy Stores

Best Buy is open Thanksgiving Day. Best Buy is joining JC Penny in opening its doors an hour earlier than their main competitors. Best Buy will be open for business at 5:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day.

While some retail stores are beginning to open on Thanksgiving Day, that’s not the case with everything. The post offices will be closed on November 27, and so will credit unions and banks.

List of 50 Stores Not Open on Thanksgiving Day 2014

November 18, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 28 Comments

List of retail stores closed on Thanksgiving Day

There are two arguments to this trend, with both sides looking at the issue quite differently. The stores which open on Thanksgiving Day (also called Gray Thursday or Black Thursday) argue consumers like to have an extra day to shop for the holiday season which gives them more flexibility, and point to the fact that if consumers really didn’t like the idea, they wouldn’t come when their doors open. They also argue that if their competitors are open for the day, and they fail to follow suit, they will lose sales to them. In fact, for many retailers Thanksgiving Day has become the new Black Friday when the best deals will be available.

On the other side, those who advocate retailers should remain closed argue Thanksgiving is a holiday about family and thankfulness, and should be spent with family. Retailers who open stores on this day are keeping their employees away from their families because they have to work. They also note that being open on Thanksgiving doesn’t actually increase overall holiday sales for the retailers, but simply displaces sales which consumers would have made on Black Friday or some other later date. In other words, Thanksgiving sales don’t generate more overall sales, but they are at the expense of Black Friday which will be lower if the stores also open on Gray Thursday.

Small Independent Local Shops
Academy Sports
AC Moore
American Girl
Apple Stores
Barnes & Noble
Bass Pro Shops
Bed, Bath and Beyond
BJ’s Wholesale Club
Burlington Coat Factory
Cabela’s
Christmas Tree Shops
Christopher and Banks
Costco Warehouse
Crate & Barrel
Dillard’s
Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW)
Fort Western
GameStop
Gordmans
Guitar Center
Half Price Books
Harbor Freight
Hobby Lobby
HomeGoods
Home Depot
Jo Ann Fabrics and Crafts
Lane Bryant
Lowe’s
Marshalls
Menards
Navy Exchange (and all base exchanges)
Neiman Marcus
Nordstrom
Patagonia
PC Richards & Sons
Petco
Pier 1 Imports
Publix Food and Pharmacy
REI
Saks 5th Avenue
Sam’s Club
Sierra Trading Post
Shop Rite
Sur La Table
Talbots
TJ Maxx
Tractor Supply
Trader Joe’s
True Value

(Photo courtesy of Ben Husmann)

Target Black Friday Preview Deals

November 11, 2014 By Kara Pendleton 1 Comment

Target releases Black Friday preview ads

Retailers wanting to make the most of the holiday shopping season come up with clever ways to draw in the crowds. Target has arguably outdone them all this year. They are offering a plethora of ways in which shoppers can get great deals and before their money might go into the tills of other stores.

In a press release, Target announced its innovative approach to pulling in the holiday crowds early. Beginning on November 10 and running through Black Friday weekend, customers can take advantage of Black Friday deals in a variety of convenient ways. Combine those with other ways to save money at Target and consumers can score some great deals.

First, finding out about the deals early can be done via their Black Friday sales ad, a November 26 pre-sale, and the store opening beginning at 6 pm on Thanksgiving (Gray Thursday).

If that is not an early enough opening time, customers can take advantage of the Black Friday sales online on Thanksgiving morning, before the stores open up for the sales. The first several hundred customers in line at each store will be given a Christmas Cracker, which is a noisemaker that will be filled with a coupon or gift card.

One hot on-Black-Friday deal is Target GiftCards for 10 percent off. Shoppers can purchase up to $300 worth of the discounted cards, although they cannot be used until Saturday. Also, they can only be purchased between 6 am and noon, and there may be limited supplies with no rainchecks.

Other hot items include a free Target GiftCard with purchase. For example, a New iPad Air 2 16GB can be purchased for the regular price of $499, but for the Black Friday sale it comes with a $140 gift card. An Xbox One will be reduced in price from $399.99 to $329.99 and it, too, will come with a a free gift card with a $50 value. Plus, two free digital download games are also included.

Need a camera? Rather than pay the regular price of $299.99, on Black Friday you can buy a Nikon L330 20.2MP High Zoom Camera for $99. Some of the deals will be across-the-board, such as all clothing being marked down by 40 percent.

In October, Target started giving free shipping on online purchases under $50, through December 20. This adds to the money shoppers can save.

Mobile phone users with Target’s Cartwheel app can get 50 percent off a different toy each day, through the holiday shopping season. But, that is not all. From November 23 to 29, at least 25 percent off will be offered to Cartwheel users on over 100 different items. These deals include 40 percent off select multi-piece bakeware sets and 60 percent off select movies.

Whatever your pleasure, Target is trying to meet your needs and get your holiday shopping dollars with great deals and better access to them.

What is Gray Thursday?

November 3, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 5 Comments

If you have never heard the term “Gray Thursday” (also being referred to as Black Thursday) you will begin to hear it more and more in the years to come. It looks like last year securely entrenched itself as the way the Thanksgiving holiday will be celebrated each year by retailers now and in the future.

There has been a growing change when it comes to retailers and Thanksgiving over the last few years. While it wasn’t too long ago Thanksgiving was a day where only emergency shopping at the local convenience store could be done, that’s no longer the case. In fact, the majority of large, big-box retail stores are now open for at least some time on Thanksgiving, and these retailers have started to brand shopping on Thanksgiving Day as Gray Thursday.

Whether you like it or not, Gray Thursday is here to stay. The time when retailers waited to open their doors at 12:01 am on Friday are long gone. While there are a few major retailers which will remain closed for the entire day (Costco, GameStop and Nordstrom are part of this minority), most others will be open for at least a few hours before Black Friday. Currently most still limit their opening hours to Thursday night, though even that’s likely to change over time. K-Mart now opens at 6:00 am and stays open throughout the day, and remains open continuously for the entire four-day shopping weekend. Other retailers have been extending their Thanksgiving opening hours over the last couple of years an hour here and an hour there so that they are slowly creeping into the evening hours as well.

Retailers usually give two main reasons for embracing Gray Thursday. First, they note that their competitors are doing it, and to remain competitive they need to do the same. The second reason has been the rise of the Internet. They point out the Internet is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Thanksgiving. As more retailers view Internet shopping as a direct competitor, they feel the need to keep their stores open longer hours to compete here as well.

Another issue is that Black Friday has lost a lot of its traditional meaning. While it initially meant great deals which could only be found on the Friday after Thanksgiving, today it has turned into a month-long marketing campaign. More and more stores are launching their Black Friday deals the day after Halloween. What that means is the Gray Thursday is taking on the role of what Black Friday had been in the past of the great in-store deals on a single day to launch the holiday shopping season.

In the end, it’s not only the retailers to blame for this encroachment on Thanksgiving family time. The fact is that when these stores open their doors on Gray Thursday, consumers flock to them. If consumers refused to participate with these earlier opening hours, then the stores wouldn’t open their doors. As long as consumers are willing to come, the stores will continue to be open on Thanksgiving Day.

(Photo courtesy of John Henderson)