Rick’s Rants and Raves

Inspired by my perception of shopping around Thanksgiving this year, I am making two predictions about the years ahead:

• 2008: At least 1 major retail store will open at Midnight Friday morning. In 2007, the standard seemed to be 5AM, and there were at least 2 (JC Penney & Kohls) that opened at 4AM. If retailers really want to get the jump on other retailers, they’ll open their doors as soon as possible after Thanksgiving.
• 2009: Inspired by the performance of the previous year, at least 1 major retail store will open on Thanksgiving day, probably for a few hours in the evening. Again, what better way to get a jump on the other retailers than by opening early. I actually saw a couple of stores (Meijer and Walmart) that were open all day on Thanksgiving, and when we drove past, they seemed to be doing a hopping business. These don’t count because these stores are open 24 hours, and close only on Christmas day. But they are competition for the non-24-hour stores, and these others stores will notice, and will take action. If people want to shop, the stores will open. Unfortunately, the craze for shopping in this country seems to have no bound.

So, those are my predictions for the years ahead. I don’t know when it will happen, but I can envision that in 5 or 10 years, Thanksgiving may turn into a shopping holiday, much the way Labor day and Memorial day have. Rather than cooking a traditional dinner at home, many families will eat dinner out, hopefully together, in the middle of their shopping activities. May the Invisible Hand have mercy on our souls.