Over the past few years, the annual day of shopping mayhem known as Black Friday has been starting earlier and earlier—so early, in fact, that many stores have started opening on Thanksgiving Day, before most Americans have sat down to eat their Thanksgiving dinners.
Now Staples (SPLS) has decided that enough is enough. On Thursday, the office supplies retailer announced that it will not be open at all on Thanksgiving Day this year.
“We want our customers and associates to enjoy Thanksgiving their own way,” said Demos Parneros, Staples’ president of North American stores and online, in a statement. The office supply retailer will open at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. Last year, it opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving night.
This is a step away from last year’s Black Friday weekend, when some retailers opened as early as Thanksgiving morning: Kmart and RadioShack opened their doors were open at 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. respectively, USA Today reported.
Still, Staples isn’t entirely shying away from Thanksgiving shopping, and will have an online-only sale during the day.
This begs the question of whether the retailer truly has customers’ families at heart, or whether it has strategically moved its promotions online so as to make it more—not less—enticing for people to shop during the holiday.