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Evolving Shopping Habits Surrounding Thanksgiving

Years ago, shoppers camped outside of stores before they opened on the morning of Black Friday. This year, many stores will open on Thanksgiving Day.

Thousands of people line up each year for Black Friday sales. In recent years, more stores have opened on Thanksgiving Day — some even before dinner is on the table.

Small businesses and online retailers are also taking advantage of the popular shopping weekend with events like Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Bloomington’s College Mall will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and will remain open until 1 a.m. They will briefly close until 6 a.m. on Black Friday. A handful of stores, such as department stores or national chains will remain open all night.

This will be the first holiday season at College Mall for Erika Hickman, who was hired as the mall’s manager over the summer.

“We’re very optimistic about this holiday season and super excited to get it started,” Hickman says.

John Talbott, Associate Director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing in the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, says the trend toward opening on Thanksgiving Day began a few years ago but has slowed down.

“Wal-Mart actually announced that they’ll have the same hours as last year and that was based on their customers who shopped there a year ago,” Talbott says. “Their customers say they don’t want it any earlier.”

Wal-Mart will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and Talbott says they tend to be a leader in terms of behavior for the rest of retailers.

Jeb Conrad, President and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, says some local businesses try to cater to customers’ needs and follow the lead of larger retailers by offering extended holiday hours. He says increased online shopping has hurt some smaller, local businesses.

“But the good news is that the National Research Federation will tell you that they’re expecting a 4.1 percent increase in spending this year over the holiday, so that’s good news for both big and small retailers,” Conrad says.

Steve Bryant, Executive Director of the Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech, says like other businesses, the retail entrepreneurs he works with are trying to figure out when the customers are going to be around.

“They’re already promoting their hours, and they’re probably not going to be open at 1 a.m. but they’ll have longer hours,” Bryant says.

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