Macy’s to open at 6 pm on Thanksgiving

Macy’s plans to open the doors to its namesake stores at 6 pm on Thanksgiving, even though Black Friday – the traditional kickoff to the holiday season – won’t start for another six hours.

Macy’s used to start its Black Friday shopping midnight on Thanksgiving, like many other retailers, including WalMart and Toys R Us. But in recent years, stores have been opening their doors earlier. Macy’s started doing this last year, when it opened to Black Friday shoppers at 8 pm on Thanksgiving.

Of course, this means that a lot of employees will be working on Thanksgiving. But Macy’s said that they’ve all volunteered for the holiday shift.

“We work diligently to staff Thanksgiving with associates who volunteer to work and doing so means that our people are able to make their own decisions about how they contribute to our most important and busiest weekend of the year,” says Macy’s, in a statement. “We also heard last year from many associates who appreciated the opportunity to work on Thanksgiving so they could have time off on Black Friday.”