Macy's, JCPenney, and Kohl's Criticized for Being Open on Thanksgiving

Customers are revolting against Thanksgiving opening hours.

Several retailers — including Macy's, JCPenney, Kohl's, and Best Buy — opened their doors on Thanksgiving to offer early Black Friday deals. And in the eyes of some customers, it's backfiring.

On Thursday, Twitter lit up with complaints about retailers encroaching on the holiday, and many customers asked for fellow shoppers to boycott the stores.

According to BestBlackFriday.com, at least 77 retailers said they would keep stores closed on Thanksgiving this year, the highest number recorded since the website started collecting the data in 2013. Several said it was because they wanted to give employees time to spend with family.

Read more: Shoppers using smartphones under the dinner table have made Thanksgiving one of the biggest days for online shopping

Other stores, such as REI, are even staying closed for Black Friday.

"It's the right ethical move. It's the right business move," the CEO of REI, Jerry Stritzke, previously told Business Insider. "I think retail for brands is about community."

He added: "If you're open on Thanksgiving, it's hard not to pitch yourself as a greedy bastard."

Stritzke said retailers put themselves in an uncomfortable position by competing purely on value. Winning customers based solely on lower prices or on opening earlier, he said, builds a transactional relationship that can easily be undercut and leave retailers scrambling.

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