Lizzy Alfs

lalfs@tennessean.com

Bucking a controversial national trend that started five years ago, one Middle Tennessee shopping center will not open its doors to deal-seeking shoppers on Thanksgiving Day.

CBL & Associates Properties, owner of CoolSprings Galleria, will not open its portfolio of malls until 6 a.m. on Black Friday. The Chattanooga-based company owns or holds interest in 89 regional malls and open-air centers in 31 states.

“We want to bring back the excitement of Black Friday shopping as the true start of the holiday shopping season and allow our employees, retailers, and shoppers to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their families,” Stephen Lebovitz, CEO of CBL & Associates Properties said in a statement. “After evaluating feedback from our mall employees, retail partners, and input from our shoppers we determined that this was the best decision for our properties.”

Department stores, movie theaters and retailers with exterior mall entrances will still have the option to open their stores on Thanksgiving Day but mall common areas will be restricted until 6 a.m. Friday.

CoolSprings Galleria has more than 150 retail and dining tenants and is anchored by Macy’s, Dillard’s, JCPenney and Belk.

For many retailers, Black Friday weekend is the busiest sales weekend of the year and it marks the official kickoff of the holiday shopping season. The National Retail Federation predicts sales in November and December will increase 3.6 percent this year to $655.8 billion. Online sales are forecast to increase between 7 and 10 percent over last year to as much as $117 billion.

Black Friday started creeping into Thanksgiving Day in 2011 when Macy’s and other brick-and-mortar retailers opened doors at midnight on Friday in an effort to compete with online shopping giants and boost profits through aggressive holiday sales. In 2012, Walmart, Sears and Toys R Us were among the retailers that moved their openings up to 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

CoolSprings Galleria, Opry Mills, RiverGate Mall, Lebanon Premium Outlets and Stones River Mall all opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day last year.

The early openings give shoppers an early start on Black Friday’s “doorbuster” deals. In Nashville, hundreds of shoppers lined up outside local Best Buy, Target and Toys R Us stores on Thanksgiving Day last year before doors opened, with one woman camping overnight Wednesday outside the outside the Best Buy at the Nashville West Shopping Center.

But for employees, it means long holiday hours and missing out on time with family or friends on Thanksgiving Day.

Labor groups have protested holiday store openings, and some retailers such as Staples and Hhgregg have reversed the trend and decided not to open on Thanksgiving Day. Last year, outdoor specialty retailer REI took it one step further and refused to open on Black Friday, while encouraging people to “#OptOutside” in a marketing campaign.

Reach Lizzy Alfs at 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.