Staples reverses course, will close stores on Thanksgiving Day

Hadley Malcolm | USA TODAY

Staples (SPLS) is taking a stance against a growing holiday shopping trend and will be closed on Thanksgiving this year, the company said Thursday.

The retailer has been open on Thanksgiving the past two years, but this year it says customers and employees should have the chance to stay home with family and friends. Instead, Staples will have online-only deals on the holiday. Stores will open at 6 a.m. on Black Friday.

"We want our customers and associates to enjoy Thanksgiving their own way," said Demos Parneros, Staples president of North American stores and online, in a company statement.

Recent years have seen more retailers choosing to open on Thanksgiving, and many opening earlier in the day, a trend that always draws protests from customers and employees who say the holiday should be reserved for family time. Last year, retailers including Target, Sears, Kohl's, Macy's and Best Buy opened as early as 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., which was several hours earlier than many 8 p.m. openings in 2013. Kmart and RadioShack even opened Thanksgiving morning, at 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. respectively.

But as holiday promotions shifted earlier last year, starting as soon as Halloween ended in some cases, spending over Thanksgiving weekend fell as consumers spread their shopping out over the entire season. Traffic fell 5.2% and individual consumer spending fell 6.4% over the holiday weekend in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation, and those statistics may be a factor in retailers adjusting their strategies this year, says Kathy Allen, a spokeswoman for NRF.

"Are retailers (opening on Thanksgiving) to see more added to their bottom line? I’m sure some do, but really at the end of the day all it does is just spread consumer spending out," she says. "If you open on Thanksgiving and there's not people lined around the sidewalk, you're going to reevaluate for the next year."

While some companies could follow Staples' lead, many retailers will likely continue to open on Thanksgiving despite inevitable protests against the practice because "there are a lot of companies whose customer base really likes shopping on Thanksgiving," Allen says.

Staples is the first major retailer to announce holiday plans for this year. The company also said that it will start offering deals by early November.