Macy's Will Open Stores Even Earlier This Thanksgiving

Remember a time when Thanksgiving was all about spending time with family and friends? It seems gathering around a table full of holiday food and socializing with loved ones has become a thing of the past. These days, more people are either rushing to department stores in search of Black Friday deals or going to work at their retail jobs. Sad, but true. Last year, Macy's opened its Herald Square flagship at an unprecedented hour: 8 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. ABC News reports that this year Macy's is opening its stores at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, two hours earlier than last year, to lure holiday shoppers.

According to Fashionista, Macy's decided to push the opening to 6 p.m. in response to "significant, sustained customer interest in last year's opening on Thanksgiving," according to a company representative.

And lest you start to feel badly for the employees who'll have to work through one of America's biggest holidays, the retailer says it's attempting to staff the extra hours entirely with volunteers and is promising extra compensation and time off to those associates on Black Friday. The rep claims the "majority" of shifts have already been filled.

Macy's was one of several U.S. retailers that got an early start on Black Friday sales last year, and the move paid off: According to the National Retail Foundation, "nearly a third of shoppers, 45 million people in sum, hit stores on Thanksgiving, up 27 percent from 2012."

Sales, however, were down "$1.7 billion to $57.4 billion, about 3 percent less than the year before," according to data released by the National Retail Federation.

It wasn't that fewer people shopped this year — 141 million went out and shopped between Thursday and Sunday, 2 million more than last year — it's that they simply spent less. On average, shoppers spent $407 over the four-day period, down from $424 last year. Retailers are facing an uphill battle this season after a too-warm fall affected sales.