Many national retailers now stay closed on Thanksgiving Day, while a smaller group of grocery, pharmacy, dollar, and some specialty chains open with reduced hours and often start (or continue) Black Friday deals that same day. Exact hours and participation vary a lot by location, so checking your specific store’s holiday schedule is essential before heading out.

Stores commonly open on Thanksgiving

These chains have recently been listed as open on Thanksgiving Day with limited hours and may feature early Black Friday promos in-store or online. Always confirm locally.

  • Grocery & big food chains (often early close): Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway, Ralphs, Wegmans, Giant Food, Food Lion, Shaw’s, King Soopers, Smith’s, Vons, and some regional supermarkets.
  • Pharmacies & convenience: CVS, Walgreens, some Amazon Fresh locations, Casey’s, Wawa, and other gas/convenience chains, often with near-normal or reduced hours.
  • Discount & specialty retail: Big Lots, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, a shrinking number of legacy retailers like Kmart where still operating, and some local chains that opt into Thanksgiving opening.
  • Restaurants with promos : Applebee’s and some casual chains often open, sometimes with special Thanksgiving menus while cross-promoting gift-card or Black Friday offers.

Thanksgiving has also become part of the broader “Black November” trend, where deals run all month and online sales often overshadow a single in‑store rush.

Big retailers usually closed on Thanksgiving

A long list of major chains now keep doors shut on Thanksgiving but open early on Black Friday, shifting their big promotions online for the holiday itself. These often include:

  • Department & apparel: Macy’s, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and similar mall brands typically stay closed on the holiday, then open early Friday (e.g., 5–7 a.m.).
  • Big-box & home improvement: Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and many others have publicly committed in recent years to closing on Thanksgiving while running online deals instead.
  • Specialty shops: Michaels, Petco, PetSmart, and other niche retailers are frequently on “closed Thanksgiving” lists and rely on Black Friday morning openings plus online sales.

This shift reflects both worker-pressure narratives (“let employees have the holiday”) and the fact that online Black Friday traffic now starts well before Thanksgiving anyway.

How this affects Black Friday deals

Thanksgiving store openings now sit inside a layered promo calendar rather than a single doorbuster night. In practice:

  1. Early‑month deals (“Black November”)
    • Many chains drop “Black Friday prices” weeks early, especially online, so the urgency to shop on Thanksgiving is lower than a decade ago.
  1. Thanksgiving Day itself
    • Open chains (grocery, drugstores, some discounters) typically focus on essentials, last‑minute holiday items, and modest electronics or toy deals, but not the heaviest doorbusters.
 * Online, nearly all major retailers run sitewide or category sales on Thanksgiving, even if stores are closed.
  1. Black Friday morning
    • The largest in‑store doorbusters now concentrate on early Friday openings, while web-only “Black Friday” and “Cyber” deals often span the whole weekend.

From a shopper’s point of view, the best-value offers are often available online without leaving Thanksgiving dinner, while in‑person Thanksgiving visits mainly help with last‑minute food or convenience buys.

Ethics and forum chatter

Online forums are split on the question of shopping on Thanksgiving for Black Friday deals. Common viewpoints include:

  • Critical of Thanksgiving shopping
    • Some posters argue that going out for deals on the holiday supports schedules that keep retail workers away from family time and contributes to a “dystopian” consumer culture.
  • Pragmatic or neutral
    • Others point out that many workers rely on holiday shifts for overtime, and that early sales plus online options have already diffused the old “Black Friday stampede” vibe.
  • Focus on alternatives
    • Anti-consumption communities encourage skipping Thanksgiving/Black Friday store runs entirely, favoring used, local, or experience-based gifts—or waiting for calmer, post-holiday clearance sales.

These debates have helped push some brands to close on Thanksgiving for PR and employee-welfare reasons, even as overall holiday sales keep rising.

Quick planning tips

To safely and efficiently figure out what stores are open on Thanksgiving for Black Friday shopping in your area:

  • Check each retailer’s “store hours” page and toggle to Thanksgiving/Black Friday on their locator.
  • Look at local news roundups , which often publish lists of open/closed stores and special hours right before the holiday.
  • Prioritize online deals for big electronics and gifts, and save Thanksgiving in‑person runs for groceries, pharmacy needs, or emergency items.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.