Walmart Is No Turkey for Ditching Thanksgiving
A decision inspired by the Covid-19 crisis to keep the retailer’s stores closed on the holiday this year also makes financial sense.
Eat up and then shop from the only place you should on Thanksgiving: your couch.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images North AmericaWith a single sentence in a Tuesday press release, I suspect Walmart Inc. has just killed a holiday shopping tradition that was badly in need of rethinking.
The big-box retailer, in addition to announcing $428 million in bonuses for its workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said it will not open its brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving, which had become the de facto kickoff for in-store Black Friday discount events in recent years. The retailer said it made the move so employees could spend time with their families during this time of crisis. You can bet, though, that many of its peers will follow suit, effectively marking the end of the recent ritual of scarfing down your turkey dinner in time to get a place in line to buy a big-screen TV.