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Subscribe to RSSBlack Friday starts at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving day and retailers expect to ring up as much as 20 percent of their holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend. CNBC's Courtney Reagan reports.
Target employees are seeing red after the retailer announced its stores will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, cutting into holiday time for workers. An online petition asking Target to not open on Thanksgiving has over 179,000 signatures, and the number continues to rise.
Thanksgiving, a time for family, togetherness, turkey ... and standing for hours to service the needs of the relentless hordes of shoppers seeking the last Furby and deeply discounted HDTV sets. Indeed, Black Friday, which traditionally started in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, has seen its hours pushed back in recent years so that stores start offering savings on Thanksgiving night itself.
This year, Walmart, Toys R Us, Kmart, and Sears are all opening their doors at 8 pm Thursday. Together with Target, that's two to four hours before they kicked things off last year.
A Target worker started an online petition calling on the retailer to not move Black Friday to Thursday. In a few days the petition gathered nearly 200,000 signatures. NBC's Diana Alvear reports.
Reached for comment, Target spokesperson Molly Snyder told NBC News: "Target’s opening time was carefully evaluated with our guests, team and the business in mind. Across the country, team member preferences were considered in creating our store staffing schedules. Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest of the year, and we appreciate our Target team’s flexibility on this weekend and throughout the holiday season."
Synder told NBC News that Target employees always receive time-and-a-half pay for working national holidays. Workers clocking hours during Thanksgiving and Black Friday also receive additional pay bonuses, she said. Only one-third of Target's workforce is scheduled to work on Thanksgiving.
Some employees are "excited" for the chance to work extra hours, she said. "We’ve heard from many stores that they had more team members volunteer to work than they had available shifts," Snyder said.
Not everyone is thrilled about stores being open on Thanksgiving, with Casey St. Clair, a Target employee, and Stacey Widlitz, S.W. Retail Advisors.
But there are a few people out there, almost 200,000, who think that something with "Friday" in the name should actually start on Friday.
The Change.org user who created the petition, "C. Renee," is a self-described six-year employee of Target living in California. In the petition description the user wrote that having to work on Black Friday prevented him or her from visiting their family on the East Coast.
C. Renee wrote, "I currently work two jobs, substitute teaching and work Target at nights and weekends, so having Thanksgiving off really does give me that one day to relax and visit family I otherwise have no time to see." The user did not respond to an NBC News request for additional comment.
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Geesh, if you have to shop earlier just go online!
Thanksgiving is a Nat'l Holiday. Black Friday is "BLACK FRIDAY!" Employees deserve the right to spend ALL of Thanksgiving day with family
Just one holiday they can stay closed and allow people to spend time with their families. Open at Midnight - at least then it's Friday.
Salvation Army already has the pushy bell ringers in front of Kroger's aggravating folks for donations. December 1st is soon enough!!
I am fed up w/this relentless retail drive and I plan not to shop w/any retailer who opens on Thanksgiving.
Friday is FRIDAY. NOT Thursday night!! PERIOD....
Just Once I like to see no one show up at these stores. The sales would be even better on Saturday when they start to panic!
Vsiting relatives out of town on holidays, boredom eventually sets in. It's fun to walk around a store and I appreciate those who stay open
Give employees their family time&wait to open until after midnight. Couple of hrs won't matter that much.
Money, money, money. This is the sad commentary that our society has become.
I'm thinking of giving cash to show my displeasure with Corporations forcing people to work on holidays. Screw you, all! Not getting my biz
I will boycot any retailer who forces their employees to work on Thanksgiving (the last untainted American holiday).
@!$%# slavery. .wake up people u don't need athe @!$%# u will buy black Friday.you are mind control to get this things. short live happiness
Target always disappoints me...in fact I'm disenfranchised! HA!
Personally, I don't do Black Friday. I watch a movie, chill and enjoy family if I can. I would say that the retailing business has shot itself in the foot so many times that it's futile to effect a change by popular demand. They start putting up Christmas decorations in October now - PAHLESE!!! They destroy the holiday season with the intense marketing. I shop online, pay to have it delivered and enjoy saving the gas and the hassle. Retail stores are becoming dinosaurs - they cannot compete with low overheade online stores. Sorry that Target folks have to work Thurs nite - that's totally absurd.
Retailers opening on Thanksgiving day is disgusting, and speaks volumes about this country, and all that is wrong with it.
Doesn't matter to me since I will never shop on Black Friday. If I can't afford it without going through hell I need to pick cheaper gifts.
1. It's not that important. 2. Order online. 3. Treat the employees with same or more respect than you do a few bargain shoppers.
I also work in a hospital. I work every holiday that falls on a weekday. Most of you here will be in line somewhere, waiting for the sales. Be glad you have a job, and be quite and work it!!!!!!!!
Pretty soon stores won't even be closed on Thanksgiving. What a National Shame.
Enough is enough. People work all year long and deserve this time to be with their families. The greed in this country is just disgusting.
I love shopping on Black Friday. Not only for the deals, but it's just a lot of fun. It's a crazy atmosphere, and you meet many interesting people while standing in line. However, I don't want to rush Thanksgiving just to go shopping. Go back to the 6am openings on Friday.
This is nothing new Kmart has been opening on Thanksgiving day for over 20 years
Businesses can do whatever they want, but I wouldn't bother going anywhere until Friday morning. My Thanksgiving time is for family!
I refuse to enter any retailer until after 2013. I shop online and have gifts delivered straight to my door. This holiday insanity in this country is out of control. For once, shoppers and workers should NOT show up to say enough is enough. People bust their tails working nonstop all year long. Take a damn break and stay home to chill for one or two days out of the year for God's sake.
I fully support those retailers whose workers protest these RIDICULOUS hours. The retailers will take advantage of everything and anyone they can until people let their dollars to the walking and talking.