Walmart to close on Thanksgiving for third consecutive year
Walmart exec John Furner said staying open on Thanksgiving is 'a thing of the past'
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Walmart said on Wednesday it will close all U.S. stores on Thanksgiving Day.
This marks the third consecutive year that the nation's largest retailer pledged to close its doors during the major holiday, FOX Business confirmed.
However, in an interview with the "Today" show on Wednesday, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner hinted that this would be the new norm.
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"It’s a thing of the past," Furner said when asked if the company would stay open during the holiday.
Prior to the pandemic, many companies stayed open on Thanksgiving to capitalize on Black Friday shopping.
A cashier scans items at a Walmart store in Burbank, California on August 15, 2022. (Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
However, even as the global health crisis started to subside, closing on Thanksgiving Day started to become a trend among major retailers, like Walmart, that wanted to give their employees extra time off.
Last year, Walmart said the move was a way to thank its employees for their efforts during the pandemic. Around the same time, Target CEO Brian Cornell announced that its stores would be closed on Thanksgiving Day "moving forward."
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"What started as a temporary measure driven by the pandemic is now our new standard," Cornell told employees in a note before the 2021 holiday season.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TGT | TARGET CORP. | 130.73 | -1.66 | -1.25% |
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 92.64 | +0.14 | +0.15% |
Meanwhile, retailers started shifting how they approach Black Friday by adding more sales online, spreading out their holiday deals over several days and even enticing consumers to start holiday shopping earlier into the season.
Walmart announced Wednesday that it will again spread out its Black Friday savings events throughout November, capping "off a month of deals with Cyber Monday."
Cashier Josepine Silvestre hands a customer back change after a transaction at a Target Corp. store in Colma, California, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 12, 2011. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The company's Black Friday deal events will begin online every Monday in November. Deals will start as early as Nov. 7, the Arkansas-based retailer announced.
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Similarly, Target announced that it's kicking off its holiday savings events three weeks earlier than last year and that its deals will run through Nov. 26.
The first week of deals kicked off earlier this month and ran through Oct. 15.