Black Friday Keeps Coming Earlier and Earlier for Shoppers

By Dave Franzman, Reporter

Tools

By Lisa Kunkel

Story Created: Nov 24, 2011 at 6:13 PM CDT

Story Updated: Nov 24, 2011 at 7:19 PM CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Shoppers in Cedar Rapids spent the day both enjoying the holiday and getting ready for the Black Friday sales. But the question this year, more than ever, is why wait for an early morning sale when so many retailers start the main Christmas selling season on Thanksgiving itself.

Some stores, like Best Buy, have shifted the traditional 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. kickoff to midnight. Others, like the shops at Tanger Outlet Mall in Williamsburg, have pushed their midnight madness up till 10:00 p.m. this year. And one national toy chain, Toys R US, is opening at 9:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night.

But the true early opening for holiday shopping in Cedar Rapids actually goes back almost 20 years to the mid 1990’s. That’s when the Kmart stores began opening on Thanksgiving Day itself.

Kmart East manager Bill Kinney, said it’s a different crowd than a true Black Friday.

“We have a lot of people shopping for Thanksgiving dinner still,” Kinney said adding “and we have people just looking for ad specials so it’s a very good day for us.”

That difference appealed to shopper Bonnie Dietrich from Garnavillo, who was spending some time in Kmart after Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant. Dietrich said Black Thursday, if you want to call it that, isn’t as frantic so she can get more done without the hassle.

“I usually have a list to work with and you don’t have to fight the crowd,” she said.

Kinney said Kmart usually gets the blame, or credit, for pushing up the start of the Christmas shopping season by a day. Over the years, a handful of other retailers have also started opening on the holiday.

One shopper on Thanksgiving said the appeal of true holiday shopping may simply be an excuse to get out of the house.

Alice Deivernois said “everyone goes to sleep (after dinner) because of the turkey. But if you don’t want to sit around and take naps, why not go to Kmart, they’re open?”

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