Retailers opening doors on Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving, local shoppers can squeeze in a trip to Walmart or The Gap before sitting down to a turkey dinner.

For the first time, San Francisco-based Gap will have three stores in downtown Seattle open on Thanksgiving. All Walmart Stores — not just the 24-7 Supercenters — also will be open on Thanksgiving.

"We were open for Easter this year and decided to give Thanksgiving a try," said Tawnya Scott, a manager at the downtown Banana Republic store, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving. "Being downtown, you have a lot of visitors who want something to do that day."

Opening on Thanksgiving is one way for retailers to get a jump on Black Friday, so-called because it marks the point at which many stores cross over into profitability for the year.

But the change also carries some risks.

"There's a sensitivity factor for customers who don't want to see Thanksgiving become commercialized," said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at the National Retail Federation. "And there certainly are employee sensitivities. People have to staff the store that day."

At the downtown Banana Republic store, signing up employees to work Thanksgiving hasn't been a problem, Scott said. "We have quite a few people here who are not going home for Thanksgiving, so we'll have a pretty full staff." The Gap store on Fifth Avenue will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, while the Old Navy store on Pine Street will be open from noon to 7 p.m., said spokesman Daniel Rubin.

At Seattle Premium Outlets, about 30 stores will open in the final hour or two of Thanksgiving for a late-night start, while nearly 10 will do the same at Factory Stores at North Bend.

Lengthening weekend

"A lot of retailers have taken a look and said, 'What more can we do to stretch out the Thanksgiving weekend,' " Davis said, recalling another fairly recent creation — Cyber Monday, so-called because it's the day when many people return to work after the Thanksgiving weekend and use their company's Internet access to shop online.

Retailers with an e-commerce component also have noticed that people increasingly are shopping on Thanksgiving, Davis said.

"Since most people are off work on Thanksgiving, and they're already in the holiday mood, they might like the idea of shopping," she said.

For some stores, crowd control is another reason alter Thanksgiving hours.

New extended hours at Wal-Mart come after a temporary employee was trampled to death at a Long Island, N.Y., store last November. A crowd of shoppers broke down the store's doors, hoping to snap up day-after-Thanksgiving bargains.

Walmart Stores

This Thanksgiving, all 19 Walmart Stores in Washington state that ordinarily do not operate round-the-clock will stay open past their normal closing time, said spokesman Bill Wertz.

Walmart says it still will offer special deals beginning at 5 a.m. Nov. 27, but it hopes to prevent a mad dash.

"And nobody likes to stand in a long line," Wertz said.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com