Natalie Barletta – Opinions Editor
It is no secret that Christmas is rapidly stealing Thanksgiving’s thunder. However, it’s reaching to new extremes. Stores, instead of opening in the early hours of Black Friday morning, are now opening on Thanksgiving night.
Last week, a memo surfaced on Facebook written by General Manager Dan Kiley. The memo said that the Milford Mall will open at 6 p.m. for all of the Black Friday sales, and remain open until 10 p.m. Black Friday night. The memo said that it would be mandatory for stores to open 6 p.m. Thanksgiving day until midnight to meet the needs of the holiday shopping consumption. The memo also asked that the workers should not talk about the products on social media.
“Given the enthusiasm that consumers and retailers have for earlier holiday openings over the past several seasons Westfield welcomes the opportunity to accommodate this demand from retailers and customers who are eager to get a jump on Black Friday shopping,” Westfield’s district marketing manager, Paul Sabina said in a statement last Friday.
The Milford Mall isn’t the only store to opening its doors for the holiday season. Stores such as Walmart, Best Buy and Kohl’s will be opening Thanksgiving night as well to meet the needs of Black Friday.
A Milford mall is getting backlash after a memo stated that stores must open on Thanksgiving. http://t.co/qZACpjXf4v
— Connecticut Post (@connpost) November 15, 2014
With that being said, let me ask you this. What do you think about when you think of Thanksgiving? I think of turkey, spending quality time with your loved ones, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and of course a day to really count how blessed you truly are. I do not whatsoever think of shopping, getting good deals or going to the mall.
Black Friday is something that has slowly but surely beginning to steal Thanksgiving’s thunder. Thanksgiving is slowly becoming obsolete, because of the fact that there isn’t much profit in that holiday. However, just because something doesn’t make you richer doesn’t mean that something that isn’t worthwhile. Thanksgiving is the time of year that people look forward to spending time with their families, and just relaxing.
Gabriel Keyl, a hispanic studies major at Macalster College, thinks that it’s important to allow employees for the day off.
“I really don’t like the idea of anyone being able to take the day off when they need to. I think vacations are important,” said Keyl in a phone interview.
By telling store workers that they have to be open is pretty much denying their rights to celebrate a holiday that is strictly American. Pretty much every worker bee deserves the chance to get that time off. If you choose to work it’s one thing, however, you should not be forced to open your doors. People who work in retail especially deserve this because this is the busiest shopping season of the year.
“I think its a good idea for people to have a day off. I think it would be really nice to have a day off where everything is closed,” said Keyl. “I think that it is nice for certain days to be ‘break days.”
This opens up the question of how much consumerism has really taken over the true meaning of holidays. Thanksgiving should not have to live in Christmas’ shadow because it is of equal importance as Christmas is. Every year, I have noticed that stores have opened earlier and earlier. Last year stores like Target and Walmart opened their doors Thanksgiving night to shoppers who were just ready to get their Christmas shopping done.
This makes me wonder-soon, will there even be a Thanksgiving? Or, will it become a day when people will work and get ready for Christmas, rather than enjoy a turkey with their families?
I don’t know about you all, but I am up for a good sale. However, Thanksgiving is for turkey. Not shopping.
Photo Credit: Robert Stromberg, Mahat Tattva Dasa
