From Costco to Nordstrom: These 60-plus stores will be closed on Thanksgiving

Kelly Tyko USA TODAY

Published 6:06 PM EDT Oct 2, 2018

UPDATE: This story was originally published Oct. 1 and has been updated to reflect additional stores staying closed on Thanksgiving.

Weeks ahead of Halloween, the holiday shopping season may seem far off.

But BestBlackFriday.com released its 2018 Thanksgiving Day store closings list Monday, a roll call of retailers that won't open their brick-and-mortar stores Nov. 22.

Costco, Ikea, Sam’s Club, Home Depot and Lowe's are among the big names on the popular holiday website's third annual Thanksgiving closures list.

“At this point in the year, we have the most confirmed closures we have ever had with 60 retailers,” said Phillip Dengler, head of editorial and content marketing for BestBlackFriday.com, which began contacting stores in early September.

The stores on the list have traditionally kept their doors closed for the holiday, and Dengler expects the list to grow. Although the site hasn't confirmed any new closures this year, Dengler said there were a few surprises last year.

In 2017, GameStop opened on Thanksgiving for the first time in years, and Stein Mart and Shoe Carnival closed after being open in previous years.

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“While we do not expect any huge retailers to switch course, we do expect a middle-tier retailer or two to potentially close," Dengler said.

According to the National Retail Federation, 174 million people shopped in-store and online during last year's five-day Thanksgiving weekend, which concluded with Cyber Monday.

ShopperTrak found Thanksgiving Day foot traffic to be down while Black Friday traffic remained stable in 2017. The market research firm projects this Black Friday will be the biggest shopping day of the year.

Black Friday gained its name because it was viewed as the day of the year retailers earned profitability, or were "in the black." Nearly a decade ago, sales slowly started creeping into Thanksgiving and by 2012 most major retailers were open on the fourth Thursday in November.

Despite public outcry and shoppers threatening to boycott, the opening times have moved earlier. Last year, J.C. Penney started its sale at 2 p.m. Thanksgiving and Kohl's, Macy's and Best Buy started sales at 5 p.m.

Last year, a BestBlackFriday.com survey found 57 percent of Americans were against Thanksgiving openings while only 16 percent said they favored them.

“Many people are still strongly against the idea of retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving,” Dengler said. “Since Thanksgiving is all about family, a majority of people believe stores should be closed on the day.”

While still a minority, the website's new survey shows more people may be getting used to the idea. Nearly a quarter of the 1,069 surveyed this year said they were in favor of the holiday openings, close to a 9 percentage point increase over last year.

What time stores will serve up Thanksgiving in-store sales this year isn't public yet.

“Stores are always reluctant to tell us if they will be open on Thanksgiving and what their hours will be," Dengler said. "Since most major national retailers are open on Thanksgiving, we think it is because the competition is much more fierce.”

Staying closed Thanksgiving

Here is a list of retailers planning to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day, compiled by BestBlackFriday.com.

A.C. Moore

Abt Electronics

Academy Sports + Outdoors

Ace Hardware

Acme Tools

Allen Edmonds

American Girl

At Home

AT&T (company-owned stores)

Barnes & Noble

Big 5 Sporting Goods

BJ’s Wholesale Club

Blain’s Farm & Fleet

Bob's Discount Furniture

Burlington

Christopher & Banks

Cost Plus World Market

Costco

Craft Warehouse

Crate & Barrel

Dillard’s

dressbarn (majority of stores)

Fleet Farm

Gardner-White Furniture

Guitar Center

H&M

Half Price Books

Harbor Freight Tools

Hobby Lobby

Home Depot

HomeGoods

Homesense

Ikea

Joann Stores

Lamps Plus

Lowe’s

Marshalls

Mattress Firm

Music & Arts

Nordstrom

Nordstrom Rack

Office Depot and OfficeMax

P.C. Richard & Son

Patagonia

Pep Boys

Petco

PetSmart

Pier 1 Imports

Publix

Raymour & Flanigan Furniture | Mattresses

REI

Sam’s Club

Sierra Trading Post

Sportsman’s Warehouse

Sprint (some mall retail stores and kiosks may open on Thanksgiving)

Staples

Stein Mart

Sur La Table

The Container Store

The Paper Store

TJ Maxx

Tractor Supply Co.

Trollbeads

Von Maur

West Marine

Also closed

Menards reached out to USA TODAY to say they also would be closed on Thanksgiving.

Kelly Tyko is a consumer columnist and retail reporter for Treasure Coast Newspapers and TCPalm.com, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Read her Bargainista tips at TCPalm.com/Bargainista, follow her on Twitter @KellyTyko and email her at kelly.tyko@tcpalm.com. Sign up for her weekly newsletter at www.tcpalm.com/newsletters.

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