Macy's Will Open Its Doors To Shoppers On Thanksgiving Day
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - This Thanksgiving, some people will be putting down their forks early to rush to the stores to shop for the best bargains.
Macy's is the latest retailer to announce they are ditching their tradition of being closed and will open their stores Thanksgiving night, including locations in South Florida.
Other big retailers have beaten them to the punch.
Target, Walmart, Sears, and KMart have all announced plans to open their doors Thanksgiving Day, a traditional holiday for family get-togethers.
The Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise recently announced they would open Thanksgiving night.
South Florida shoppers have mixed feelings on stores opening Thanksgiving Day.
"I don't think it's a good idea. It's a national holiday and everyone should have a break now and then," said Mary Downs.
But Monica Luengas disagrees, "people need to get things. They're responding to people's needs."
Others worry that employee's may have to sacrifice family time to be at work.
"I feel for the workers who have to go in, instead of being with their families," Jonathan Delvalle said to CBS 4 News.
Macy's said it is giving their employees the 'option' of doing a Thanksgiving night shift.
But other retail workers aren't so lucky and some have gone online to express their frustrations.
At the website CHANGE.ORG, there are dozens of petitions protesting Thanksgiving Day store openings.
One signer writes, "Employees deserve to be with their families on Thanksgiving."
Another said, "It's unfair to ask your employees to sacrifice even more of their Thanksgiving for a cash grab."
At the Christmas Palace, which sells everything Christmas from trees to ornaments, workers have been manning the cash registers for two decades.
Bill Merrill who manages the Ft. Lauderdale store said Thanksgiving signals the start of holiday decorating.
"It's the beginning of a weekend that's very exciting. We have people at home eating and cooking and people here shopping. By 4 o'clock we're all going home. For us dinner is 5 o'clock!"
That's about the time eager shoppers will be gearing up to head to Macy's, as well as other stores, looking for bargains and retailers hope—they come to shop til' they drop plenty of cash.
