I t only took one retailer to push the envelope of Black Friday and turn it into Black Thursday. Last year Macy’s actually opened eight of their stores in larger markets at midnight. This year in our little big town of Lexington, Kentucky, several other retailers followed suit. The news broke about Old Navy opening at midnight, then Walmart, and before you could say tryptophan, most every retailer decided to call off Thanksgiving, yielding to the pressure of retail competition. As a result, thousands of retail workers across the Nation will have make the post-Turkey nap a priority, not a luxury, because they will have to get up and head to work in a few short hours.
There has been essentially two camps on this issue: the eager shoppers who, like the retailers who joined the midnight bandwagon this week, will not be outdone or out-shopped. After all, the new Justin Bieber Christmas CD (that comes with his new eau de parfum) might sell out by Friday. And then there are the old fashioned curmudgeons who think that all of this retail madness is a sign of misplaced values in a day where the material is trumping the substance of real family time.
Either way one comes out on the issue, it will do no good to blame the big bad retail machine. Martine Reardon, Macy’s Executive VP of Marketing noted, “People want to shop through the night.” In other words, build a sale and they will come. This is hardly what Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony had in mind, but it’s our reality all the same. You won’t find laughter or forgiveness or love for sale at midnight this year, but there will be some pretty nifty replacements like Angry Bird plush toys and Starbuck’s gift sets.
Whether you stay home or hit the movies or grab your shopping bags, or even if you have to go punch the clock, my prayer for you this Thanksgiving is that you connect. That you find yourself among friends or family, fully known, and fully loved.
