NEW YORK (AP) - The nation's retailers want shoppers to spend
less time eating turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving and more time
shopping - whether it's online or on land.
For the second year in a row, CompUSA Inc. and BJ's Wholesale
Club Inc. are opening their doors on Thanksgiving. The exception
are stores in Massachusetts where local laws preclude holiday
hours. CompUSA also added an extra incentive for consumers this
year by providing pumpkin pie for those in line.
Iconic toy store FAO Schwarz - with locations in New York,
Chicago and Las Vegas - is set to open its doors on the holiday as
well.
In the past, holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day was limited to
discount stores like Kmart and Wal-Mart, as well as grocery
retailers and 24-hour convenience stores like 7-Eleven Inc. Kmart,
operated by Sears Holdings Corp., is taking it one step further,
offering for the first time Thanksgiving Day specials on TVs to GPS
systems.
"Some people just can't wait until Friday," said Kirsten
Whipple, a Sears spokeswoman. "Thanksgiving dinner is done and
they have moved on." Kmart's special Thanksgiving deals include an
Olevia 32-inch LCD HDTV for $419.99 and a Magellan GPS system for
$129.99.
Ellen Davis, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation,
said the Thanksgiving openings may be a way of generating early
enthusiasm ahead of a holiday season that's widely expected to be
sluggish. Still, she said, no matter how stiff the competition is,
for those new in the game, opening on Thanksgiving is still
considered a tough decision when weighing employee time off and
other factors.
"I think at this point Thanksgiving is still very revered in
the retail industry," Davis said. "A lot of retailers just don't
want to touch Thursday."
Web shopping is a different matter. More retailers are pushing
shoppers to buy online on Thanksgiving, instead of just researching
deals for Black Friday, named because it was traditionally when
stores became profitable.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which last year offered one or two online
specials on Thanksgiving, is offering specials on 20 to 30 products
online. CompUSA.com is featuring one-day, online-only sales on
Thanksgiving - on products including computers, LCD flat-panel TVs
and portable DVD players - and free shipping on certain items.
Amazon.com Inc. held a poll to allow visitors to vote for items
they want to see drastically discounted beginning Thursday. The Web
site also is offering shipping incentives and other deals spanning
the weekend.
Toys "R" Us' site and eToys.com are both featuring a slew of
online specials just for Thanksgiving. Toysrus.com is featuring up
to 65 percent savings on everything from Matchbox cars to
Spider-Man 3 interactive figures, while eToys.com is offering up to
60 percent off on select items.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-11-22-07 0600EST
