Should stores be closed on Thanksgiving?

[Midniteoyl]

Brick and Mortar retail stores are all hurting...minus the large pharmacy chains...

The ease of Internet shopping especially when free shipping is offered has cut deep into the pockets of B & M establishments...

Many times the most profitable (margin wise) items for walk in stores is found on the isle end caps and kiosks...if the foot traffic is not there to see and impulsively buy one or more of those high margin items...

IMO, even the electronic (etc.) specialty stores are going to fade away...their infrastructures will be redirected to distribution warehousing, packaging, shipping and counter pick-up outlets...

Black Friday and now T-day sales are a last gasp to get what they can when more shoppers are not at work or school...

A LOT of places will tell you that Black Friday till Xmas are the ONLY times they are operating in the Black... I dont mind if it helps the B&M stores stay around providing jobs..

 

[CobyRupert]

This discussion reminds me of a 'discussion' I had at a VFW hall one night a few years ago.
The man was out raged because there was no more shoe industry jobs in Maine (he or his had just lost one of the last jobs left). And yet no matter how I tried I couldn't get him to connect the dots of him being in love with shopping at a place like Walmart and the job just lost.

This thread is exactly the same.
You lament the loss of community and yet shop at malls type stores or on line, thereby supporting the least common denominator. How do you expect to have a common sense of purpose if everyone in your community is shopping on-line and communicating with each other only via internet? How do you expect a thriving down town where you get to know and appreciate your neighbor to succeed if ya'll just shop on the internet or run to Walmart or the mall?
Cause and effect people, wake up!

Right on! I know it's great for the (short term) bottom line when a manufacturer moves to China (formerly Mexico) and their labor costs are 1/10'th the US, but who do they think their customers are going to be when they're collectively wrecking the manufacturing base and the economy? We're hearing that giant sucking sound Ross Perot talked about 30 years ago, and Obama gets the blame.
..but you know rsallen, we're the product of the "greed is good", "Me", "me", "me" generation, where all this talk about thriving downtowns and community, "why that sound like gov'mint interference, socialism!" We have met the enemy, and he is us. (-edited, thank you Midniteoyl)

 

[Midniteoyl]

"We have met the enemy... and he is us"

 

[mikehaugen]

Right on! I know it's great for the (short term) bottom line when a manufacturer moves to China (formerly Mexico) and their labor costs are 1/10'th the US, but who do they think their customers are going to be when they're collectively wrecking the manufacturing base and the economy? We're hearing that giant sucking sound Ross Perot talked about 30 years ago, and Obama gets the blame.
..but you know rsallen, we're the product of the "greed is good", "Me", "me", "me" generation, where all this talk about thriving downtowns and community, "why that sound like gov'mint interference, socialism!" We have met the enemy, and he is us. (-edited, thank you Midniteoyl)

See the thread "harbor freight tools that don't suck." Very few people care where things are made anymore, as long as they can get it for cheap... and it kind of does the job. A few people still look for "made in USA" for quality reasons, but very few for "support our own" reasons. What makes it worse is that many of these people are in decent financial standing and could afford to buy USA goods, but don't because they can get the chinese equivalent for less.

Btw... when did religion get brought into this discussion? I don't remember that.

 

[TomSeller]

Having owned several small business, including an insurance agency, we were always closed on Sundays, always closed on major holidays. But we would sure work right up to 6pm on Christmas eve in the electronics shop. What a day Christmas Eve is to a store that is basically an adult toy store, and last minute shoppers were amazingly grateful we had what we had..

Adult toy store? I assume audio equip, cell phones, etc?

 

[mikehaugen]

Adult toy store? I assume audio equip, cell phones, etc?

I had to think about that one for a minute as well. :laughing:

 

[daugen]

Adult toy store? I assume audio equip, cell phones, etc?

yes dear...think a very upscale Radio Shack that's about half tvs, Sony, Hitachi and Panasonic back then, and a mix of stereo stuff, sold a ton of Infinity floor speakers, Acer computers, and three $1600 Panasonic bag phones a week. Could not get those phones in fast enough...
New Hope Electronics. Took it from about 120K gross a year to a hair under $1M in five years. Then my first divorce made me lose interest, and I went back into insurance.

The most fun of all, and it was seriously fun, was to go to the annual Toy Fair each year, often in NYC, to buy electronic toys for the coming year. Usually in January or February, when you knew what moved the prior year.
I really had fun in that business. Everyone was happy when they left the store. Unlike the insurance business.
I had one guy who bought eleven cordless phones from me. Just wanted the latest model, and would come in every Saturday morning and look for something new and fun to take home. So I knew I had to keep getting new, interesting
products to keep up the interest. It was fun, really hard work, a lot of 90 hour weeks, but it finally made money and that's when of course it's time to sell. The guy who bought it was a genuine rocket scientist, had no idea how to market, too rigid, and in three years was bankrupt. Radio Shack bought back the franchise and now there is a cookie cutter Radio Shack up the street that is exactly like every other one...

 

[dave1949]

"Shoppers won't be lining up for Thanksgiving Day deals at stores in Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts. They can't."

"The rules vary among the states. Retailers smaller than 5,000 square feet can operate in Maine, for example."

"Maine allows certain sporting goods stores to remain open, an exemption that allows Freeport-based outdoor retailer L.L. Bean to operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Spokeswoman Carolyn Beem said workers sign up for shifts on a volunteer basis and get paid extra for working the holiday. She said they generally have more volunteers than shifts on what she calls a generally slower business day.

But along the New Hampshire border, the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine, will remain closed, even though it could operate under the same exemption, said vice president Fox Keim. He said giving employees the day off is part of the store's "core values."

"Diane Mareira, who has worked for BJ's Wholesale Club for 29 years and now manages its store in Northborough, Mass., said she remembers the days when people spent Sundays home with their families, but said that has all changed. BJ's, which operates stores in 15 states, won't open until Friday, even in states that allow it.

"You have both parents working in the household. There's very few days that you can set aside and dedicate to your families," Mareira said. "Those are days that we should be home."

Mareira said she's planning to do just that on Thursday. She'll have her extended family over to cook, eat and enjoy the day with each other."


Thanksgiving shopping? Not in Maine, 2 others that ban it | Sun Journal

 

[Gary Fowler]

Many posters who are negative to business opening their doors outside an 8-5 x 5 or 6 days a week are acting just like Big Government and wish to dictate to others what they feel is right. My thoughts are LESS IS MORE with regard to laws and interference by others in how we run our lifes. Laws are (or should be) made to protect the individual's right to self govern as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others although some of our laws today are ridiculous in that instance like the prayer laws, Christ in Christmas etc because 1% of the people don't like something the other 99% must change their belief. What ever happened to majority rules. As for when a business should be open, I think that should be up to the business and if they can operate in the black when open that is their right to open OR close as they see fit.

 

[mjarrels]

my son works for a sherman williams paint store and yes they will be open on thanksgiving day! Last thing I would do is paint on thanksgiving day.

mark