Thanksgiving 2017 Store Closures: Which Minnesota Retailers Won't Be Open

TWIN CITIES, MN — For decades, Black Friday was understood as the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season, but major retailers have opted to hold sales on Thanksgiving Day in recent years. The Mall of America has been open on Thanksgiving Day since 2012, but last year made the decision to close its doors and offer workers time with their families on the holiday.

While malls in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metro area will make their own decision about opening on Thanksgiving, dozens of national stores have already promised to keep their doors closed on Thanksgiving 2017. Retail giants that will be closed Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017 include H&M, Burlington Stores, DSW, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus and T.J. Maxx.

So far, two websites that track Black Friday deals say 72 stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, and the websites expect it to climb to 75 stores in the coming weeks — see the full list below, which Patch will update throughout the holidays.

National retailers that are expected to open on Thanksgiving include: Best Buy, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Sears, Target and Walmart. Hours for Thanksgiving and Black Friday have not yet been announced by the chains yet, although some of their holiday ads have begun to leak online.

Consumers seem to be ready to spend on gifts, and one forecaster expects sales in November and December to increase a healthy 3.6 to 4 percent from $678.75 billion to $682 billion, up from $655.8 billion last year., says the National Retail Federation. That’s significantly higher than the 10-year average of 2.5 percent and above the seven-year average of 3.4 percent since recovery began in 2009.

"Although this year hasn’t been perfect, especially with the recent devastating hurricanes, we believe that a longer shopping season and strong consumer confidence will deliver retailers a strong holiday season,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.

Christmas falls 32 days after Thanksgiving this year, one day more than a year ago, and is on a Monday instead of Sunday, giving consumers an extra weekend day to complete their shopping.

Here is the BestBlackFriday.com and TheBlackFriday.com list of stores closed on Thanksgiving:

• A.C. Moore
• Abt Electronics
• Academy Sports + Outdoors
• American Girl
• AT&T
• At Home
• Barnes & Noble
• Bed Bath & Beyond
• BJ’s Wholesale Club
• Blain’s Farm & Fleet
• Burlington Stores
• Cabela’s
• Campmor
• Christopher and Banks
• Christmas Tree Shops
• Costco
• Craft Warehouse
• Crate and Barrel
• DSW - Designer Shoe Warehouse
• Dillards
• Dress Barn
• Ethan Allen
• Fred Meyer
• Gardner-White Furniture
• Guitar Center
• H&M
• Half Price Books
• Harbor Freight
• Hobby Lobby
• Home Depot
• HomeGoods
• Homesense
• IKEA
• Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores
• Jos. A. Bank
• La-Z-Boy (all corporately owned stores)
• Lowe’s
• Marshalls
• Mattress Firm
• Menards
• Micro Center
• Mills Fleet Farm
• Music & Arts
• Neiman Marcus
• Nordstrom
• Nordstrom Rack
• Office Depot and OfficeMax
• Outdoor Research (closed Black Friday too)
• P.C. Richard & Son
• Party City
• Patagonia
• Petco
• PetSmart
• Pet Supplies Plus
• Pier 1 Imports
• Publix
• Raymour and Flanagan Furniture
• REI
• Sam’s Club
• Sierra Trading Post
• Sportsman's Warehouse
• Sprint (Corporate & Dealer Owned Stores; Mall Kiosks May Open)
• Staples
• Sur La Table
• The Container Store
• The Original Mattress Factory
• T.J. Maxx
• Tractor Supply
• Trollbeads
• Von Maur
• West Marine
• World Market

Photo credit: AP Photo/Andres Kudacki