Will You Shop on Thanksgiving?

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Thanksgiving used to be about spending time with family, eating too much and eventually passing out in front of the TV from all the tryptophan in the turkey.

Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving was the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season, and many—myself included—looked forward to this day for months.

Last year, Toys R Us did the unthinkable and opened its doors at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving. It will do the same this year and other retailers are following suit. But I’m not sure that’s a good thing. And I’m not sure if I should give into the early deals.

I’m all for stores trying to compete with each other. It helps lower prices and gives us sellers a better chance of scoring great bargains on new inventory and gifts, but this whole “opening on Thanksgiving night” trend might just be too much for me.

I like the tradition of getting up at 4 a.m. and, with coffee in hand, venturing out into the cold darkness of early morning. Next year will all stores be opening on Thanksgiving night? Will they start opening at 8 p.m.? 7 p.m.? Earlier?

This year, Target and Kohl’s will open early, but they’ll wait till midnight—at least in our area. (Check your local stores for their official opening times.) I like shopping at these two stores. But other retailers where I always shop on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, are still opening at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. So, I wonder, should I shop on Thanksgiving and Black Friday?

If I don’t go visit Kohl’s at midnight to get a few of the items I’ve already seen in the leaked Black Friday ad and swing by the store at 5 a.m., I might miss out on a few things. I know we’re all watching every penny right now, and we sellers are always looking for a deal, but I’m not sure it’s worth it to sacrifice my Thanksgiving chasing down a bargain-priced coffeemaker for Aunt Martha or getting last-minute inventory (not to mention the cost of gas doing so).

I don’t think I can give up this tradition that I’ve had for nearly two decades, but if ever there was a time to go cold turkey, this may be it.

What do you think? Should I start shopping on Thanksgiving? Will you, or will you wait until Friday, or even until Cyber Monday?