Black Friday might be a little different this year. For the first time since the late ’80s, Walmart will close all of its stores on Thanksgiving Day this year to allow employees to spend time with their families on the holiday.
Typically, Walmart has remained open during regular hours on Thanksgiving Day and kicked off its Black Friday doorbuster sales — which generally draw massive crowds — at 6 p.m. that evening. But this year, in the wake of the pandemic, employees will be able to relax at home and enjoy some turkey instead of dealing with a surge of customers.
“We know this has been a trying year, and our associates have stepped up. We hope they will enjoy a special Thanksgiving Day at home with their loved ones,” John Furner, the president and CEO of Walmart US, said in a statement. “We are certainly thankful to our people for all of their efforts.”
In a letter to Walmart’s US employees sent Tuesday, Furner credited a store supervisor in Texas for coming up with the idea to close on Thanksgiving.
“We know holiday shopping will be different this year, and we will be managing sales events differently,” he wrote. “Kevin Carlyle is the People Lead at Store #475 in Round Rock, Texas. He recently wrote us and suggested that we close for Thanksgiving during this unusual year, so that our associates could spend the day with their families.”
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