Target to Open Stores at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving

The creep of Black Friday shopping into Thanksgiving Day showed another sign of slowing.

Target Corp. said it would open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, the same time as last year after several years of moving the opening earlier into the Thursday holiday versus the historic Friday kickoff.

"It just really felt like a sweet spot," Tina Tyler, Target's head of stores, said Monday.

Target's store opening comes as several retailers are questioning whether opening on Thanksgiving makes sense, given the added cost of staying open and paying workers extra to work on the holiday. Chains like GameStop Corp. and Staples Inc., are staying closed entirely on Thanksgiving and moving their Friday openings later. Specialty retailer REI said this year it would close its stores on Black Friday. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expected to set its Black Friday plans later this week.

Much of Target's plans for the week of Black Friday remain the same as last year. It is offering all of its so-called door-buster deals online starting early Thursday morning. It also is spreading out the deals even earlier, with a handful of deals being available Wednesday, Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. The chain is also cutting prices across entire departments for 10 days starting Nov. 22.

Ms. Tyler said the added days of deals aren't a sign of the decreasing importance of shopping on Black Friday, but that shoppers don't want to wait until that day to shop.

"I wouldn't say we're shifting away," Ms. Tyler said. "We're adding to."

There will be some incentive for people to come into stores on actual Black Friday. Anyone who spends $75 gets a 20% off coupon for an entire purchase that can be used between Dec. 4 and Dec. 13, a typical lull during the shopping season.

Write to Paul Ziobro at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2015 13:35 ET (18:35 GMT)

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