Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 11-19 Regional malls tweak all-night hours ahead of Black Friday PIONEER PRESS Regional malls tweak all-night hours ahead of Black Friday Updated: 11/17/2014 07:46:11 PM CST TwinCities.com AV_ s. _. • Nov 15: • • Eden Prairie opening acre-sized ice castle this winter • Nov13: • St. Paul plans Christmas market Thanksgiving weekend • Nov 12: • Mall of America embraces Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping in a big way • Walmart holiday deals offered on rolling basis • Nov 11 : • Best Buy's Black Friday hours, specials set (on Thursday) • Five reasons why Black Friday keeps starting earlier • Nov 10: • Target teasing its Black Friday deals • Kohl's joins retailers opening Thanksgiving Day Shopping malls are scaling back on all-nighters as they kick off the Black Friday weekend, focusing instead on hours when most shoppers are awake. At Rosedale Center last year, most stores were open in the wee hours of Black Friday and stayed open all day. This year, stores will start opening two hours earlier -- 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving -- but most will close at midnight. They'll reopen at 6 a.m. for another round of deals. "When you're going to be open 27 straight hours, it's a strain on employees and especially smaller shops that don't have a lot of employees," said Scott Michaelis, general manager of Rosedale Center. "This way, they can capitalize on it, but they don't have to be open 27 straight hours." The new pattern of opening earlier on Thanksgiving night, then closing to get some sleep, also is in place at other regional malls in the Twin Cities. That includes Maplewood Mall, Southdale Center and Ridgedale Center. But there's a twist: Most of the big "anchor" department stores plan to stay open all night starting Thanksgiving evening. And the malls themselves won't close their doors overnight, in case anyone wants to stroll between, say, Macy's and Herberger's at 4 a.m. At Maplewood Mall, the official posted hours are 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving to 1 a.m. Friday. Then after a sleep break, stores will reopen at 6 a.m. for a full day of Black Friday shopping. Tim Pothen, director of marketing at Maplewood Mall, said the mall is letting each store decide for itself what hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday make the most sense. "There will be a handful that will be staying open all night," Pothen said. That includes its four anchor stores -- Macy's, Penney's, Sears and Kohl's -- as well as "a number of the bigger stores within the mall." But many stores plan to close at 1 a.m. , and others will monitor the crowds. "If they see they're not busy at 1 a.m.,they may shut their doors,"he said."They won't turn sales away." Around-the-clock shopping on Black Friday is a fairly recent development,dating to when stores opened earlier and earlier on Friday--but still shied away from opening on Thanksgiving Day itself. Now that Thanksgiving night openings are the new normal,some malls are rethinking the value of the all-nighter. But not all Minnesota malls.Burnsville Center and Mall of America are both touting shop-around- the-clock hours starting Thanksgiving evening. "The majority of our stores are opening at 6 p.m.on Thanksgiving,then we just stay open,"said Mall of America spokeswoman Sarah Schmidt."We're going to be open throughout the wee hours of Black Friday." Carol Spieckerman,retail consultant for NewMarketBuilders,said that"This year,probably more than any I can recall, is sort of all over the place in terms of what individual retailers are doing and the hours they're open.There's just a myriad of options that are out there now." As always,opening stores on Thanksgiving Day remains controversial,especially when it interferes with the holiday feast or a family gathering. A Target employee in Washington state created an online petition at Change.org,asking that retailers stay closed on Thanksgiving. It has been signed by 84,000 people. "Thanksgiving is a time for friends and family;it isn't for deals,savings and money,"the petition says. On the other hand,many consumers seem eager to shop on Thanksgiving night.The National Retail Federation estimates that 45 million people shopped on Thanksgiving in 2013,a 27 percent increase from 2012. And store officials seem to prefer the less grueling schedules.When Rosedale merchants heard about the new Black Friday store hours,Michaelis said,"they liked the 6 p.m.open more than they liked the 8 p.m.open and staying open all the way through the night." Last year at Rosedale, Black Friday shopping began Thanksgiving night with a staggered start. Some stores opened at 8 p.m.,others at midnight,and nearly all stayed open overnight. "The traffic from 8 p.m.to 11 p.m.or midnight was great,"Michaelis said."It fell off overnight... there's tired folks here at 3 and 4 in the morning. But it picked back up,and by 9 a.m.we were pretty close to capacity." Tom Webb can be reached at 651-228-5428.Follow him at twitter.com/TomWebbMN.