Consumerism dominates Thanksgiving

Staff Editorial

Every year it seems as if Christmas starts earlier than it did the year before. Holiday season displays come up as soon as Halloween decorations are taken down. In the retail world, once Nov. 1 hits, it’s already Christmas time.

Thanksgiving Day has fallen victim to the season of spending. The importance of taking a day to be around those we care about and being grateful for what we have has been lost. Stores open up on Thanksgiving Day and employees are forced to spend the day at work.

A good number of big name stores have already announced that they will not open on Thanksgiving, and those stores are making the right call. Others should follow suit and keep the day as a special one.

Not too long ago, the idea of opening on Thanksgiving seemed unheard of. The trend of opening on Thanksgiving day is one that began rather recently and it would be best if cut that off.

Retailers worth millions of dollars can afford to take the day off. There is no reason why store clerks need to be dragged out of family gatherings so they can stand behind a counter and ring up sales for a few hours.

It’s fair to assume that the CEO’s of companies like Target and Walmart, two stores that will be open on Thanksgiving, won’t be spending the day in one of the stores. Their employees shouldn’t have to either.

A list of stores that have announced they will not be opening doors on Turkey Day includes Nordstrom, T.J. Maxx, Lowe’s and Marshalls. Based on trends from previous years, stores including Barnes & Noble, AT&T and Staples will likely be closed as well.

There is enough chaos in retail stores the day after Thanksgiving. Shoppers will begin to form lines at the crack of dawn and will rush through entrances as soon as they get the okay.

That’s fine, as long as it remains safe and somewhat orderly. Black Friday is a tradition that was pretty much created to create retail store chaos, and that type of behavior is to be expected.

But retailers should leave Thanksgiving alone. Everybody needs a day to relax, eat some good food and spend quality time with their friends and family. That is what Thanksgiving is all about. It’s not supposed to be a day devoted to jumping on sales and trying to land the biggest bargain that one can.

The whole point of the day is to be thankful for everything we have. It’d be a shame to waste it standing in a department store just to buy everything that we don’t.