Walmart, Target Will Close on Thanksgiving: Holiday Hours 'a Thing of the Past'
Big box stores are continuing the policy that started during the pandemic.
Walmart will remain closed on Thanksgiving, as it's done since 2020.
Walmart, the largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the US, will be closed on Thanksgiving. The company first shuttered on the holiday in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and closed again on Thanksgiving Day 2021.
While the pandemic has turned a corner in the US, Walmart CEO John Furner told the Today show's Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday that Walmart being open on Thanksgiving is "a thing of the past."
"All of our associates will be able to spend time with their loved ones this year," Furner said.
Walmart, which has 5,335 locations in the US and brought in domestic sales of nearly $460 billion in 2021, joins Target, which announced last year that its 1,938 stores would be closed on Thanksgiving from now on.
To avoid having to open on Thanksgiving, Target said it plans to spread out savings over several weeks.
"What started as a temporary measure driven by the pandemic is now our new standard," Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement last November. "Thanksgiving store hours are one thing we won't 'get back to' when the pandemic finally subsides."
To counter the usual crush on Black Friday, Target said it was spreading out savings over several weeks and introduced a holiday price match guarantee. A small number of Target employees do work Thanksgiving to keep the gift-giving season running smoothly, the company added, but they receive holiday pay.
Other big box chains are also staying shut on Thanksgiving -- like Best Buy, which will extend its hours starting Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
"Our stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, but customers can still shop big savings on BestBuy.com or through the Best Buy app," the company said in an Oct. 10 release.
The outbreak of the pandemic pushed these chains to close their doors on the holiday to limit crowding and spread out the holiday shopping season.
While shops historically closed for the November holiday, over the last decade or so more chains began to hold Thanksgiving hours -- some opening at 6 a.m. on Thursday -- to get a jump start on the holiday shopping season.
Eventually, Thanksgiving became known as "Brown Thursday."
A combination of factors, including the pandemic, changing public sentiment and the meteoric growth of online shopping -- which accounted for roughly $768 billion dollars in retail revenue last year, according to Statista -- now means stores can close on Thanksgiving without worrying about the bottom line.
Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, Home Depot, Macy's and Sam's Club are among the other chains that will be closed on Thanksgiving, while blue laws in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island prohibit most stores and supermarkets from being open on the holiday in those states.