#THIStm #Fashion offers comments below
Drew FitzGerald
November 24, 2015
FILE - In this Monday, March 23, 2015, file photo, a woman arrives at the Nordstrom luxury department store, at The Mall of San Juan, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nordstrom reports quarterly earnings, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File) Nordstrom misses Street 3Q forecasts #THIStm #Fashion has something to say about that!
More small retailers will be open for business on Thanksgiving Day—and they may not have a choice in the matter.
While most department stores set their own hours, the small shops that line mall hallways tend to follow their landlords’ lead, industry executives say. Mall owners in turn take their cues from “anchor” chains like J.C. Penney Co. and Macy’s Inc., which have made it clear that opening Thursday evening is the new tradition. J.C. Penney plans to open most of its stores starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, while Macy’s will open at 6 p.m.
Mall owners consider it “imperative for retailers and restaurants to be open” on Thanksgiving, said Anjee Solanki, national director of retail services for Colliers International Group Inc., a real-estate-services firm. “This is when they can capture as much foot [traffic] as possible and drive future business with specials for the following month. Every tenant must adhere to the hours for uniformity.”
Stores that break mall hours can be subject to steep fines and other consequences, retail and real-estate executives say.
“Merchants are required to open at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 26th, (Thanksgiving Day) until closing at midnight,” said one letter from the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord, Calif. “All merchants have the option of remaining open midnight through 5:00 a.m. if they choose.”
A spokeswoman for mall landlord Taubman Centers Inc. said eight of its other properties will stay closed on Thanksgiving, but not Sunvalley.
“History has shown that Sunvalley shoppers come out on Thanksgiving so we continue to open on the holiday to please them,” the spokeswoman, Maria Mainville, said. “We ask that all in-line stores open so our customers have a consistent shopping experience.”
Store managers say mall owners often threaten fines for staying closed on Thanksgiving but rarely collect on them. “Most of the time, we can call up the mall and they’ll waive it for the first offense,” said one retail executive with stores in dozens of malls. “That’s kind of what we’re banking on this year.”
About half of the major mall owners sent tenants letters this month warning them that Thanksgiving hours were mandatory, this executive said. “The request is universal,” this executive said. “The enforcement seems to be random.”
About 12% of U.S. consumers plan to visit a store on Thanksgiving Day, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people by the International Council of Shopping Centers. That works out to about 38 million shoppers.
The vast majority of indoor malls will have most or all of their stores open on Thursday to meet the demand, ICSC spokesman Jesse Tron said. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., which manages malls and shopping centers on property owners’ behalf, said 23 of the 30 malls it manages plan to open at some point on Thursday.
Greg Maloney, chief of Americas retail at JLL, said a subset of owners started testing Thursday hours last year and aren’t likely to pull back in the coming years.
“Thanksgiving is going to become more of a shopping day rather than the day after,” Mr. Maloney said, noting that the shift is driven by consumers’ demand for early deals. “The object of all of us is keeping someone in the store as long as we can.”
Some chains still buck the trend. Nordstrom Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. plan to stay closed on Thanksgiving. Videogame chain GameStop Inc. said it would keep all of its 4,000 U.S. stores closed on Thursday, even in malls that have ordered stores to open.
GameStop spokesman Joey Mooring said the company contacted mall owners like General Growth Properties Inc. and Simon Property Group Inc. around September and October to warn them of its decision.
“GameStop has not received any fines from our mall-owner partners,” he said. “We work closely throughout the year to offset times like this. Meaning, throughout the year we receive requests from our mall-owners to either open our mall-based stores early or keep them open later due to special occasions.”
Simon said it works with its malls’ retailers to determine whether to open on Thanksgiving. “If the decision is made to open, retailer participation is totally voluntary and no one is fined if they choose not to open,” said Simon spokesman Les Morris.
General Growth declined to comment.
Some stores are exempt thanks to specific carve-outs in their lease agreements. Fast-food chain Chick-fil-A said it hasn’t faced any pushback from landlords because its contracts stipulate that restaurants will stay closed on Sunday and major holidays, including Thanksgiving, from the outset.
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“It’s a very important part of the bargain we strike every time,” Chick-fil-A executive John Featherston said.
Other chains aren’t so lucky. Most lease agreements require their tenants to be open during “mall hours,” which the property manager can define during the course of the year. When tenants signed leases four or five years ago, some understood that to include Black Friday, not Thanksgiving.
Even if they get around the fines, small stores that don’t have as much leverage in lease negotiations can suffer less favorable terms the next time their lease comes up for renewal, according to a former Simon executive who asked not to be named.
The push for early Thanksgiving hours is simple: A half-closed mall won’t bring in as much foot traffic or business to the stores that remain open. “No one benefits by that, except for the employees,” the former Simon executive said.
Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com
William Of CA12 hours ago
Holiday openings has been a trend in retail for at least the past twenty-five or thirty years. As a regional manager for a medium-sized chain in the 1980s, I was informed by management of a mall in which one of my stores was located that the mall would be open for limited hours that New Years' Day and it was mandatory my store follow suit. Rather than forcing the store's staff to work on New Years, my manager and I worked the store alone that day and did very little business compared to a comparable non-holiday day, and during the course of that New Years' day I discovered the mall management office was closed.
Since then, malls have began opening and increasing hours on practically every holiday, including Christmas, yet those days do not generate any more (and usually less) traffic than they would have if it had been any other day. And yes, the mall offices are still closed.
Before the advent of malls, freestanding stores located on retail-orientated shopping streets around the country were open from 10:00 am to 5- or 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday and all holidays, and business was just as good then as it was in the later years and now when stores are open twice as long. The reason? Shoppers adjust to whatever hours a store or mall chooses to observe, and the shoppers who frequent these stores on this Thanksgiving would have just as easily shopped the day before or the day after. In the meantime, stores' overhead and payroll is increased and morale is lessened with each passing holiday.
Twenty years ago I decided it was time for a career change, in no small part because of the greed and indifference displayed by the major anchors who dictate hours and the malls which abide by the dictatorial commands of the Macy's of the world.
mm12 hours ago
Great insight! Thank You!
JaneJane11 hours ago
I know Nordstrom won't do it. And you sir, are to be commended. This is all run by greed, which has overwhelmed this country. I won't support it and I won't shop on a holiday.
anthonyanthony10 hours ago
The GM of our mall (big hancho of a top tier mall in America with 300+ retailers) had a mandatory meeting last year for all tenants to talk about mandatory opening on Thanksgiving. He gave his little speech and asked for questions. My hand shot up and I asked if HE will be at his desk at 5pm till midnight on Thanksgiving day. I got a TON of applause and he half ignored me and said he would. I walked right up to an empty office on thanksgiving day. LIAR!
GoforbaroqueGoforbaroque10 hours ago
Mall management operates under the rules of "Do as I say, not as I do!".
LillyLilly10 hours ago
I agree, great insight!! Sheeple will do whatever the organized chaos says to do, right or wrong. Saw a couple days ago where WalMart employees were going to protest working on Thanksgiving. I hope they do!! If they're open, we shop. IF they're NOT, we don't! Simple as that. Let these people have their day off and give Thanks. It's not that hard, and apparently not worth the money. Happy employees = SUCCESSFUL income!!
EleanorEleanor6 hours ago
William of CA: My daughter works for a major chain grocery store and she said the holiday hours are set by the union contract, thus they are open. She is reporting to work today at 3:00a.m. and again on Friday as well as some of the other workers. At least, the store manager is cooperating as he feels few will be in the later afternoon hours and he can have less employees. In the meantime, all store shelves have to be fully restocked and tomorrow, all items related to Thanksgiving must be removed and sale marked.
In the meantime, let's give thanks to all the law enforcement, fire personnel, emergency response and the medical staff that must be on duty on holidays to provide our services.
Ambassador KoshAmbassador Kosh4 hours ago
I see the same thing at the auto parts store I work at. Being open later just lets some people procrastinate longer and behave even more flaky than they already are. It's so annoying having it be dead from 6Pm until 8:30, then WHAM! a cluster of people come in. I know if we closed at 6PM that same group would get their #$%$ down there at 5:30...
There should be laws on the books that make it VERY difficult for businesses to be open on nationally recognized holidays.
larrylarry4 hours ago
Its the american shoppers fault. If folks would stop shopping on holidays companys would close. Shopping is a sickness for some.
BillBill4 hours ago
I believe being closed when everyone else is open may be worth the fine. A nice notice placed in the store window letting people know the employees are with their families can be great PR. Look at Chik-Fil-A, closed EVERY Sunday yet still significantly outperforms other fast food places. People respect that, and that respect turns into $$$.
lisalisa2 hours ago
Good point about the shoppers adjusting to whatever hours the store is open. It is absolutely true.
