More Americans likely to shop on Thanksgiving Day

Black Friday is still a thing in the U.S. and despite the national outcry over stores opening on Thanksgiving Day, Americans are still planning to shop on the holiday.

This year, 33 percent of Americans are very likely or rather likely to shop on Thanksgiving day or night according to October data from Statista.

The number of Thanksgiving day shoppers has hovered between 21 percent and 28 percent since 2012 when major retailers began actively promoting their Thanksgiving Day hours and pushing store opening times earlier and earlier each year.

This year, consumers are already seeing some retailers respond to the trend by opening even earlier. Kohl’s will open an hour earlier than last year at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving and JC Penney will open an hour earlier than last year at 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

A full 58 percent of Americans said they are against Thanksgiving Day openings, according to a new survey from BestBlackFriday.com, but it seems not all of them have the strength to stick with their convictions. Of the 58 percent opposed to stores opening on Thanksgiving, 13 percent still plan to shop on Thursday.

Some Americans (26 percent) are just indifferent about when stores open and when people shop.

But if consumers are prepared to spend money, the stores will be open. Online shopping has supplanted some of the in-store traffic during Thanksgiving weekend, but there are still people who prefer going into the stores.

Responding to several years of protests from consumers and employees that have had to work overnight shifts, some retailers have made adjustments to their holiday schedules.

On Monday, Target released its holiday plans which include a Thanksgiving Day opening at 6 p.m. The store will close at midnight and will not reopen until 6 a.m. on Black Friday, rather than staying open all night. The schedule, said Target executives, will give employees a chance to rest before the Black Friday rush.

“We know that shopping Black Friday deals at Target is an annual tradition for many of our guests across the country,” said Janna Potts, executive vice president and chief stores officer, Target in a statement. “Our hours for this year ensure we’re ready with great deals for those guests who want to shop following their Thanksgiving dinner, while also giving our teams a chance to recharge and prepare our stores before we open on Friday to greet guests with even more holiday savings.”

Other stores (most likely the ones that didn’t see significant sales on Thanksgiving) have decided to remain closed. This year, more than 50 retailers have said they will not open on Thanksgiving, including Dillard’s, BJ’s, Costco, H&M and Home Depot, according to BestBlackFriday.

But for the major retailers — Macy’s, Target, WalMart, Kohl’s and more to be announced — it will be business as usual on Thanksgiving Day.