Meal vs. deal

Retailers continue to encroach on Thanksgiving



 

 

As families gather around the dinner table tomorrow for Thanksgiving, many will experience a 21st-century phenomenon: the Turkey Day dine and dash.

Whether out of desire to get a jumpstart on holiday shopping, or out of obligation to their employer, more and more Americans are passing on the pumpkin pie and apple tart so they can get to their nearest shopping center or mall before the avalanche of consumers.

In recent years, a growing number of stores have decided to open on “Brown Thursday” rather than wait until Black Friday.

Here in Thousand Oaks, for a second year in a row, The Oaks mall will be open all evening on Thanksgiving, an arrangement not everyone is pleased about.

“I was just informed that the The Oaks mall is forcing stores to be open on Thanksgiving from 6 p.m. until midnight,” one resident wrote The Acorn. “This is a time for people to be with their loved ones. Disgusting! Do you want to work on Thanksgiving?”

The parent of a mall employee who did not want to give her name said it’s a shame that in a “family town” like Thousand Oaks retail staff would be pulled away from such valuable family time.

“When I complained to the mall they said (my daughter) should just have Thanksgiving earlier,” the woman said. “What time do they expect people start the meal—2 p.m.?”

For its part, The Oaks says it’s simply meeting customer demand. Last year, thousands of shoppers filled the mall on Thanksgiving evening. Major retailers like Macy’s and J.C. Penney will be open even past midnight, operating from the start of Brown Thursday until the end of Black Friday.

“Everyone has an opinion about being open during the holidays, but this is our business,” a mall representative said in an email. “This time of year is equivalent to a shopping ‘Super Bowl.’”

Tom Romiski, owner of Hats of Style at The Oaks, said the hours are mandatory for the stores. Romiski thinks the mall is just trying to attract customers who may be finished with Thanksgiving or aren’t celebrating the holiday at all.

“It marks the beginning of the whole Christmas season; that’s where sales numbers start to spike,” he said. “People come out from everywhere.”

The International Council of Shopping Centers, an industry trade group for malls, recently conducted an online poll surveying over 1,000 adults about their holiday shopping.

Approximately 70 percent of people who said they plan to go out on Thanksgiving will do so to shop. Of those who plan to shop on the national holiday, 50 percent said they want to get a head start and 28 believe the crowds will be smaller than Black Friday.

The organization also predicts people will spend an average of $259 when they go out shopping during the holiday.

However, not every mall will be participating in Brown Thursday and even for those that are, not all are making it mandatory.

A representative from Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park said the mall will be officially closed on Thanksgiving but individual stores may open if they wish to. At the Simi Valley Town Center, opening on Brown Thursday is not mandatory, although some stores are choosing to do so anyway. In Camarillo, at the outlet stores, they will be open all throughout the holiday and Black Friday.

Some retailers have, in fact, decided to opt out of both Brown Thursday and Black Friday.

REI made headlines after its CEO, Jerry Stritzke, announced all of its stores will be closed for Thanksgiving and Black Friday— encouraging people to spend that time outdoors instead.

“We’re a different kind of company—and while the rest of the world is fighting it out in the aisles, we’ll be spending our day a little differently,” he said in a statement. “We’re choosing to opt outside and want you to come with us.”

To shop or not to shop on Brown Thursday and Black Friday? For some in our community, it’s the last thing on their mind.

Jennifer Schwabauer, executive director of the Manna food bank, said over 15,000 households in Conejo Valley are food insecure, meaning they can’t afford to put three meals a day on a table.

She said these people are focused on feeding their families properly during the holidays, not on going out shopping.

Each year the food bank hands out bags of food on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving in order to insure families will have a holiday meal. Schwabauer predicts the food bank will serve around 450 families.

“I think a lot of our clients are thankful that they can participate in the holiday when that may not be possible if we weren’t providing all these groceries,” she said.

Thousand Oaks City Council member and Calvary Chapel pastor Rob McCoy thinks people should focus more on the “thanks” part in Thanksgiving instead of seeing it as a day for shopping.

He said people have become more focused on the gifts being bought than on the gift givers themselves.

Having worked retail on Black Friday when he was younger, McCoy said it was “crazy” and turned him off the shopping frenzy.

“I couldn’t wait to get home and away from that maddening crowd—it really put things into perspective for me,” he said. “That pretty much took the wind out of my sails, working on Black Friday.”

McCoy doesn’t begrudge anyone from participating, saying he himself has family members who “have fun with it,” but he wants people to remember it’s more of a time for family.

“I don’t despise anyone that participates; I just don’t want us to lose sight of things,” he said. “Don’t get trapped up in things and be thankful of the givers of gifts instead.”


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