It's official. Enjoy that extra slice of pie 🙂 pic.twitter.com/c2R97KVcjb
— Mall of America (@mallofamerica) October 5, 2016
The largest mall in the U.S. announced on Wednesday that it will be closed all day this Thanksgiving, only opening at 5 AM on Black Friday.
Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is home to over 520 stores, movie theaters, and an indoor amusement park. While the stores within the mall can decide to stay open on Thanksgiving, the mall’s officials expect that they will choose not to. Nickelodeon Universe and the mall’s movie theaters will all be closed on Thanksgiving day for the first time in 24 years.
The move to remain closed all day Thanksgiving has been deemed a “bold move” by many. Across the nation, more and more stores have been opening all day Thanksgiving or opening in the evening and staying open all night.
Mall of America has been pushing back the opening time over the past few years. In 2012, it opened its doors at midnight, a year later it opened at 8 PM, and last year it opened at 6 PM. More than 150 of the stores in the mall chose to open at 6 PM last year, many of them staying open all night.
“We’ve been talking about this for months, looking at the numbers, looking at the pros and the cons,” Jill Renslow, the mall’s senior vice president of marketing and business development, told the Star Tribune. “We’re excited to give this day back to our employees so they can celebrate with their families.”
While some security and other essential staff will still need to work on Thanksgiving, retailers say it’s a relief to be able to stay closed on Thanksgiving.
“We had tenants with tears of joy that they could share the news with their employees,” Renslow told CNN Money. “We have a lot of specialty retailers that have a smaller staff, and for them it’s a huge sense of relief.”
Not only can employees spend the holiday with their families, but they can also focus time and attention to preparing for the huge surge of shoppers and sales on Black Friday, a now infamous holiday.
Users on Twitter shared their thoughts on the largest mall in America keeping its doors shut on the holiday after the official announcement.
@RebeccaJarvis @mallofamerica @GMA yes! Allow us Thanksgiving to remember to be thankful!
— redbcuzofScully (@JocelynAS) October 7, 2016
Mall of America isn't going to open until Thanksgiving is over and it is actually Black Friday. Finally a mall that values Thanksgiving!
— Christiááán (@christianhecht0) October 5, 2016
Mall of America, the nation's largest shopping mall, will close on Thanksgiving Day. Is this a trend you'd like to see spread?
— WGRZ (@WGRZ) October 6, 2016
Family first. Good one @mallofamerica!
According to the Star Tribune, about 400,000 people typically visit the mall between Thursday and Sunday. However, mall officials have said that opening on Thanksgiving hasn’t proved to increase the weekend’s sales. Rather, it just spreads the same amount of spending over four days instead of three.
Other stores that have decided to keep their doors closed on Thanksgiving include Costco, Home Depot, IKEA, Lowe’s, Publix, Petco, and more.
While I’ve never been one for shopping on Thanksgiving myself, I think this is an awesome gesture that really gets at the heart of what this holiday is all about: being thankful for what you have and celebrating with your friends and family.