Target, Best Buy and Toys ‘R’ Us to open on Thanksgiving

Best Buy and Toys “R” Us announced this week they will open stores at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day — the same time both retailers opened their doors last year.

Target is also holding the line on its opening time. The retailer said it will once again open its stores at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Kohl’s will also open at 6 p.m.

Best Buy said nearly all of its stores will remain remain open until 1 a.m. on Black Friday. Best Buy will reopen its stores for a second round of doorbuster deals at 8 a.m. Black Friday, the company said.

Meanwhile, Toys “R” Us plans to keep its stores open for 30 consecutive hours following its Thanksgiving Day opening. The chain will close its doors at 11 p.m. on Black Friday.

“All year long, we have been acutely focused on conducting consumer research, listening to what our customers want, and making incremental improvements to enhance their online and in-store shopping experience at Toys ‘R’ Us,” said Joe Venezia, the company’s senior vice president of store operations in the U.S. “Starting with the official kickoff of the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving Weekend … our toy experts will be at the ready to remove the guesswork and ensure they find the toy, deal, service or special offer to help them check off every gift with ease.”

But not all retailers are rushing to open on Thanksgiving Day.

Last month, GameStop announced that it would keep its roughly 6,000 stores closed on Thanksgiving Day out of respect for its employees. The announcement marked the second year in a row the video game retailer has been closed on Thanksgiving.

Staples will also stay closed. The company is expected to open its stores at 6 a.m. on Black Friday.

REI, the popular outdoor and sporting good retailer, will skip Black Friday entirely. The company announced last month it will keep its 143 stores closed on Black Friday and instead pay its 12,000 employees to go outside.

As retailers pushed to open on Thanksgiving, Black Friday briefly lost its spot as the leading day for both shopper visits and sales, according to ShopperTrak, a global provider of consumer behavior insight and location-based analytics.

Super Saturday — the Saturday before Christmas — took both of those titles last year, according to the firm. But as shoppers, employees and stores push back against Thanksgiving Day openings, Black Friday is expected to regain its throne this year.

‘This year, there are a number of retailers that are choosing to remain closed on Thanksgiving and we expect that to complement current trends and return Black Friday to the top spot for both sales and shopper visits,” Kevin Kearns, ShopperTrack’s chief revenue officer said in a statement posted on the company’s website.