Add three more retailers to the ranks of those hit by Black Friday Creep: Target, Macy's and Kohl's will both open at midnight the day after Thanksgiving for the first time this year.
No longer is lining up at 4, 5 or 6 a.m. for Black Friday deals enough. Store opening times have edged earlier over the past few years, with many retailers opting to open their doors the minute Thanksgiving officially ends.
Some retailers have pushed even earlier. Last year, Sears and Kmart were open on Thanksgiving day itself for the first time, and Toys "R" Us opened at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
"The holidays bring hectic schedules and tight budgets, so extending store hours and offering lots of additional ways to save makes Target a great choice,” said Tina Schiel, Target's executive vice president for stores, in a press release. Target will also have longer hours the day before and after Christmas this year, the company said.
Target is also experimenting in Denver with having stores open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thanksgiving day, according to reports.
Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren said in a statement that Macy's decided to open earlier this Black Friday (most stores opened at 4 a.m. last year) "in response to our customers’ eagerness to shop early for great deals."
Kohl's also said this week that it will be open from 12 a.m. Friday, Nov. 25 to midnight the following day, doing business for the full 24 hours following Thanksgiving. This will be the retailer's earliest opening ever on Black Friday.
Retailers are competing for shoppers' dollars this year as unemployment remains high and calling the recovery "weak" sounds generous. Most forecasts have called for moderate growth in consumer spending this holiday season compared to last year, though none have predicted anything spectacular.
Black Friday (which got its name, at least apocryphally, by being the day retailers went from being in the "red" to the "black"), is often, but not always, the single biggest day for consumer spending. Last year, Black Friday sales edged up less than 1 percent, to about $10.7 billion.
How early is too early? And what's the earliest you'd go to a store and line up for a Black Friday deal?
Note: Post updated to reflect Kohl's opening