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“Thanksgiving is a holiday that cuts across all kinds of demographic boundaries in America, so it’s no surprise to see that people are wary about the possibility that it could become just another day to go shopping,” says UConn Poll Director Jennifer Necci Dineen.
Just 7 percent of adults say they plan to shop on Thanksgiving, which has begun to usurp Black Friday’s role as the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season.
What’s more, Americans are far more likely to disapprove of stores opening on Thanksgiving and pushing the traditional Black Friday shopping frenzy a day earlier.
According to the poll, 49 percent disapprove compared with 16 percent who approve, while 34 percent were neutral on stores opening for business on Thanksgiving Day.
While “Black Friday” creep has been noticed for years, as the opening times for stores the day after Thanksgiving have gotten earlier and earlier, this year an unprecedented number of major retailers are trying to draw shoppers on Thanksgiving night. The giant malls in Stamford and Danbury are both opening at 8 p.m. Thursday, with department stores, specialty retailers and even food court restaurants opening on the holiday.
Meanwhile, other retailers have staked out a strong public position against opening their doors on the holiday, even taking out ads to trumpet their decisions.
The UConn Poll found that 46 percent of Americans think stores should wait until Friday morning to open, while 34 percent think stores should open whenever they want. Sixteen percent think retailers should at least wait until midnight to start the holiday sales frenzy.
In addition, 34 percent of Americans say they negatively view stores that open on Thanksgiving, while 20 percent say that decision makes them less likely to shop at such stores, although 74 percent say a Thanksgiving opening makes no difference in their decisions about where to shop.
The poll also found that 27 percent of Americans plan to go shopping on Black Friday, with 91 percent of those shoppers saying they do so to take advantage of the sales available that day, to get shopping done ahead of Christmas, and to enjoy what for some is the holiday tradition of Black Friday itself.
The UConn Poll was conducted on a national sample of 1,189 randomly selected adults who were interviewed by landline and cellular telephone between Nov. 16 and Nov. 21. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
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