‘Black Thursday’ Shopping: The Uninvited Guest at Thanksgiving?

I'm all for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, a time-honored holiday tradition, but I'm not quite ready to skip dinner to go marathon shopping. Nonetheless, I may not be considering all of the facts.

Holly Thomas, a spokesperson for Macy's, said in this MSN article that 15,000 people waited in line at the company's Herald Square store in New York City to shop on Thanksgiving last year, breaking all previous Black Friday sales records for the retailer. It was the first time Macy's opened its doors on the holiday. In addition, Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl's saw an increase in sales for the 2013 holiday season, in part aided by opening on Thanksgiving. So while I may find the idea of shopping on Turkey Day unappetizing, the fact of the matter is more and more consumers partake and look forward to shopping on the holiday.