Retailers Ruining Every Holiday?

There was a time when the holiday shopping season began the day after Thanksgiving. Then it began on Thanksgiving itself. By 2012, the creep had a name, "Black Friday creep," and it had protesters, petitions, and a CNN columnist asking whether Black Friday was edging out Thanksgiving entirely.

What happened in 2012?

Walmart announced it would begin Black Friday sales at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, two hours earlier than its 2011 opening. Sears, Kmart, and Toys R Us matched the 8 p.m. opening; Target opened at 9 p.m. (three hours earlier than 2011); Best Buy held the line at midnight. Shoppers were being invited to leave the dinner table for the doorbusters.

The backlash was immediate. By mid-November, more than 90 petitions on Change.org demanded retailers "save Thanksgiving," echoing a 2011 petition by Target employee Anthony Hardwick that had gathered over 200,000 signatures. The argument was simple: the creep stole the holiday from the lowest-paid workers, who had to arrive hours before the customers.

Why do retailers keep pushing earlier?

The economics are blunt. The Thanksgiving-to-Christmas stretch accounts for a huge share of annual retail revenue, and the first-mover advantage is real: if your competitor opens at 8 and you open at midnight, you lose the doorbuster crowd. So everyone moves earlier, and nobody gains, except collectively the holiday shrinks.

But who is really to blame?

MarketWatch's Jennifer Waters made the uncomfortable counterpoint in 2012: "It makes sense then for retailers to just open the doors. They wouldn't if we didn't walk through them." The creep is a negotiation between supply and demand, and consumers keep showing up. Every shopper in line at 8 p.m. is a vote for 7 p.m. next year.

FAQ

What is Black Friday creep? The retail practice of moving Black Friday sales earlier, from Friday morning to Thursday evening, and Christmas promotions earlier still. The term was in wide use by 2011-2012.

Which stores opened on Thanksgiving in 2012? Walmart, Sears, Kmart, and Toys R Us at 8 p.m.; Target at 9 p.m.; Best Buy at midnight.

Did the petitions work? Not really. Openings kept moving earlier in subsequent years, though some retailers later reversed course and closed on Thanksgiving, showing the debate never fully settled.

Where did the term Black Friday come from? Philadelphia police coined it in the 1960s for the chaotic day-after-Thanksgiving crowds; retailers later reframed it as the day stores move "into the black."

The takeaway

Holidays are not ruined by retailers. They are renegotiated, one opening hour at a time, by everyone who walks through the door. The creep continues because we keep voting for it with our feet.