Black Friday is here, earlier than ever. Below is a list of just some of the major retail chains that are opening their doors and starting their door-buster sales early. In some circles, Thanksgiving Day is now being called "Gray Thursday" because it marks another chance for stores to make their year a profitable one, to turn red ink to black ink.
While stores like Walmart have been open on Thanksgiving for the past 25 years, others like Macy's are opening for the first time on Turkey Day.
Opening stores on Thanksgiving is illegal in Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts due to remnants of those state's Puritan-inspired "Blue Laws." Even so, the National Retail Federation says an estimated 33 million people – or 23 percent of those surveyed – will shop on Thanksgiving Day this year. Nearly 97 million people say they'll be lining up and shopping on Black Friday.
While Thanksgiving shopping maybe music to consumer's ears, the Retail Action Project says big retail outlets are ruining the most American of holidays for thousands of workers and their families.
The list below includes links to store locators and their deals, as well as some helpful apps to sort through the big deals.
Retail Chains Opening On Thanksgiving
Walmart
Open Thanksgiving Day, 6 p.m. to midnight.
One round of discounts goes from 6 to 8 p.m. and another round lasts from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Black Friday sales begin at 8 a.m. on Friday.
http://www.walmart.com/cp/1076614
Target
Doors open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and stay open until 11:00 p.m. Friday.
http://www.target.com/c/target-black-friday/-/N-5q0f2
Macy’s
Macy’s is opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in its history. Most stores stay open until 10 p.m. Friday.
http://www1.macys.com/store/index.ognc?cm_sp=navigation-_-top_nav-_-stores-_-n
Best Buy
Opens at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and closes at 10 p.m. Friday.
http://blackfriday.bestbuy.com/#!/doorbusters
Toys "R" Us
Many stores open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and will remain open until 10 p.m. on Black Friday.
http://www.toysrus.com/storeLocator/index.jsp
JC Penny
Doors open at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and stay open through the night until 9 p.m. Friday.
Kohl’s
Doors open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and stay open until midnight Friday.
http://www.kohls.com/feature/blackfriday.jsp
Kmart
Doors open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and close at 11:00 p.m. on Friday.
http://blackfriday.com/stores/kmart/flyers/black-friday
Lord & Taylor
The chain is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Lord & Taylor reopens for Black Friday at 5 a.m. and stays open until 11 p.m..
http://www.lordandtaylor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/lord-and-taylor
Gap
On Thanksgiving Day, 116 stores in major cities including Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco will be open with nearly 200 other stores opening that night at midnight.
http://www.gap.com/customerService/storeLocator.do
Old Navy
More than 80 percent of Old Navy stores, about 900 of them, will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will reopen again at midnight, closing at 11 p.m. on Black Friday.
Banana Republic
On Thanksgiving Day, 54 Banana Republic stores will be open with 50 more across the country opening at midnight for Black Friday.
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/customerService/storeLocator.do
Sears
Doors open on Thanksgiving at 8 p.m. and stay open until 10 p.m. on Black Friday.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/StoreLocatorView?storeId=10153&catalogId=12605&state=FL&city=Miami
Not Open on Thanksgiving
Nordstorm’s, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Sam’s Club, Burlington Coat Factory, Costco, Ross Stores, Lowe’s, Von Maur and Cabela’s.
Helpful Shopping Apps
According to an article by the Washington Post, these are the seven apps that will lead to "smoother shopping":
PriceGrabber: Compare prices on an item from different stores.
BuyVia: Search for local deals for a specific item.
TGI Black Friday: Skim through 10,000 deals and get discount notifications from an app specially designed to help people shop on Black Friday.
ShopSavvy: Scan items and compare prices from different stores. It also offers a map.
Flipp: Go through all the store advertisements showcasing their deals.
ShopAdvisor: This app helps you track specific products and then alerts you when they are likely to hit the best price.
Black Friday App: Overwhelmed by all the deals? Don't know what to buy? Pick a store and work from there with this app.
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