Delaware malls won't go cold turkey on Thanksgiving Day shopping
The nation's largest mall and dozens of retailers have canceled Thanksgiving Day shopping this year, vowing to give back the holiday to their employees and spare shopaholics from having to wolf down all those trimmings.
But the First State's three malls and sprawling outlet center apparently missed the memo. Christiana, Concord and Dover malls, along with Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth, all will open at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and keep the lights on until at least midnight. Dover Mall will remain open until 1 a.m. Nov. 25 and then reopen at 6 a.m. the same day.
That ruffles the feathers of Rose Marie Vaccaro, who bought $150 worth of holiday gift cards last week to avoid the Thanksgiving rush.
"I'm from the old school," the 72-year-old from Rumsey Island, Maryland, explained. "I don't even want them open on Sunday."
Vaccaro was among a half-dozen shoppers and retail employees interviewed by The News Journal recently who took a moral stand against Thanksgiving Day shopping.
"It's shameful," said Amy Fedeler, of Pike Creek, who works in retail but declined to name her employer. "The people who go out and shop — it's their fault."
Local mall managers say they're beholden to their tenants, who report respectable sales on Thanksgiving and want to offer an alternative to cyber deals.
"It's retailer-driven," explained Amy Norgate, Tanger's general manager downstate. "They want to be as competitive as possible."
Norgate expects virtually all her 130 retailers to stay open on Thanksgiving. Last year, the outlet center reported its strongest Thanksgiving sales from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday and from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Black Friday, she said.
Dover Mall managers also observed good turnout on Thanksgiving night last year, particularly from families who make it an annual tradition. The mall anticipates a similar response this year, according to Michele Doucette, director of mall marketing.
"With only four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah, many customers want to get the season started, and they welcome the opportunity to visit the mall for all of the retail, entertainment and social options we offer," Doucette said in a statement.
Some customers just appreciate a change of scenery on Thanksgiving, according to Jim Oeste, a vice president for Allied Retail Properties, which owns Concord Mall in north Wilmington.
"The department stores seem to think that their customers want (them) to be open," he said, adding that shoppers with work or travel constraints appreciate extended holiday hours.
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Not all retailers share that sentiment. Ever since Wal-Mart decided five years ago to turn Thanksgiving night into an electronics buying bonanza, other major retailers have tried to cash in that day by opening earlier and earlier.
That inspired a movement to reclaim Thanksgiving. Outdoor goods retailer REI earned kudos from customers last year for closing not only on Thanksgiving but also on Black Friday. Nearly 500 government agencies, nonprofits and businesses around the country have pledged to participate in REI's #OptOutside promotion this year, encouraging outdoor activities on what used to be retailers' busiest shopping day.
This year, Whitten's Fine Jewelry in the Midway Shopping Plaza will lock its doors on Black Friday — the first time in 35 years. Owner Craig Whitten, who turned 60 this year, wanted to give his staff a break from working extra-long hours during the holidays. He also cited weak Black Friday sales overall compared to Small Business Saturday the following day.
"I think people need to step back and think exactly what the holidays are all about and why they exist," he said.
"It's not a time to accumulate more of what you already have," he continued. "It is a time to share love and appreciation with family and friends."
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A spokeswoman for the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce said she hadn't heard of other small businesses in the area following Whitten's lead.
A recent survey of more than 500 American shoppers found that more than half disagreed with retailers opening on Thanksgiving, according to BestBlackFriday.com. Brick-and-mortar sales on Thanksgiving Day dropped to $1.8 billion last year from slightly more than $2 billion in 2014, analytics firm RetailNext found. The busiest holiday shopping day for 2016 will be Friday, Dec. 23, followed by Saturday, Dec. 17, according to RetailNext. Black Friday ranked third.
Still, a whopping 44 percent of Americans, or roughly 76 million people, are expected to shop on Black Friday this year, according to a recent Consumer Reports poll. Half of them will shop online, a slight increase from last year.
Responding to backlash over Christmas creep, Minnesota's Mall of America announced in October that it would shutter on Thanksgiving and open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday to give its 15,000 employees the holiday off for the first time in four years. Not to be outdone, Tennessee-based mall developer CB&L Associates decided to close its 72 malls on Thanksgiving this year, along with big-box retailers like hhgregg, Lowe's, Ikea, PetSmart and others.
Macy's, meanwhile, will open an hour earlier than last year at 5 p.m., joining Best Buy.
U.S. consumers will spend a total of about $936 this holiday shopping season, a slight decline from the all-time high of $953 in 2015, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey.
But after a contentious presidential race, consumers' spending habits aren't so easy to predict.
In a survey conducted for NRF three weeks before the election, 43 percent of shoppers said they were being more careful with spending decisions because of uncertainty over the country's leadership.
At Christiana Mall in Newark, Nordstrom will be closed on Thanksgiving but most other retailers will remain open, according to General Manager Steven Chambliss. Christiana took its marching orders from owner General Growth Properties, the second-largest mall portfolio manager in the country.
"Sure, customers have expressed concern," Chambliss said. "But the majority of customers is what we're trying to accommodate."
It's about catering to different shoppers' preferences, echoed Norgate.
"You only need to shop on Thanksgiving if you want to shop on Thanksgiving," she said.
Contact Margie Fishman at 302-324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.
New retail stores at area malls for 2016:
Christiana Fashion Center
Best Buy
Destination XL
Lane Bryant
Marshalls/HomeGoods
Talbots
VisionWorks
Christiana Mall
Alex and Ani
Capital Teas
Champs
Finish Line
Flip Flop Shops
Yogibo
Concord
La Boutique
Dover
None
Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth
ASICS
Build A Bear Workshop Outlet
Lululemon Athletica
The North Face
Tumi