Black Thursday?

It seems as if Black Friday has now turned into Black Thursday with bargain shoppers now heading out the door right after – or even before – their Thanksgiving dinner to get the best deals.

Here in Chicago, retailers are opening their doors up early to get the most sales out of their promotions going on in their retail locations. Some stores are able to manage their own hours of operation and choose how long they will be open, including The Gap.

“We are open 8 p.m. Thursday, and open for 25 hours straight until 9 p.m. Friday,” said Amy Degnan, assistant general manager for The Gap on State Street.

Degnan said the store decided to mirror Macy’s, their next door neighbor, holiday hours in order to bring in the most foot traffic. Gap also has their sales team ready for the big rush, Degnan said.

“We don’t know what to expect because we are new to State Street, but we have been training our team to work their best during this crazy time of year,” said Degnan.

With other retailers opening up their doors the day before the scheduled biggest day for retail of the whole year, should we change Black Friday into Black Thursday?

Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kohl’s and JC Penney are just a couple of the hundreds of stores opening up their doors at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving day for shoppers. Although these locations are opening up their doors and staying open all through the night, how much foot traffic can we expect to see during the early morning hours shopping in these downtown locations?

Some shoppers seem to like the idea of being able to go in right after their Thanksgiving feast and get the deals earlier, rather than having to wake up at the crack of dawn. Shopper Andrea Grimaldi, said she is very prepared.

“I like being able to go that night and come home around midnight knowing that I got the best deals and a good chunk of my holiday shopping is finished,” she said.

Another shopper, Catherine Dvorak, is also gearing up for the shopping experience.

“I have a list of stores and deals I have to go to by importance,” she said. “I do this every year because you can’t get better deals than this.”