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Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Staples Inc., the largest U.S. office-supply chain, will be closed on Thanksgiving day this year, a sign retailers may be pulling back from the expanded holiday hours that the industry embraced in recent years.

After shutting stores for Thanksgiving, Staples will open at 6 a.m. the next day for Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season. That compares with a more aggressive schedule last year, when Staples locations were open for four hours on Thanksgiving evening.

In dialing back its hours, Staples is steering customers toward its website, where it plans to offer special promotions on Thanksgiving day. The move follows a backlash last year from retail workers and some customers, who complained about stores remaining open during the holiday. Consumers also are spreading out their holiday shopping over a longer period, making big events during the Black Friday weekend less crucial.

“We want our customers and associates to enjoy Thanksgiving their own way,” Demos Parneros, president or Staples’ North American operations, said in a statement on Thursday.