These Pennsylvania Stores Have Pledged To Close On Thanksgiving

We're a week into October and many retailers are already prepping for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Every year the commercial holiday seems to encroach further into Thanksgiving, with major retailers opening earlier and earlier in hopes of capitalizing on eager consumers itching to score big deals.

But dozens of Pennsylvania retailers are bucking that trend.

Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco and H&M are among 100 national retailers that have already announced they will, again, remain closed on Thanksgiving this year, according to BestBlackFriday.com.

“We have never had this many confirmations in early October, and we are expecting the list to grow,” the company said in a statement to Patch.

Here is the latest list of national retailers with Pennsylvania locations that will be closed on Nov. 22:

• A.C. Moore
• Ace Hardware
• Allen Edmonds
• American Girl
• At Home
• AT&T (Company-Owned Stores)
• Barnes & Noble
• BJ’s Wholesale Club
• Bob’s Discount Furniture
• Burlington
• Christopher & Banks
• Cost Plus World Market
• Costco
• Crate and Barrel
• dressbarn (majority of stores)
• Guitar Center
• H&M
• Harbor Freight Tools
• Hobby Lobby
• Home Depot
• HomeGoods
• Homesense
• IKEA
• JOANN Stores
• Lowe’s
• Marshalls
• Mattress Firm
• Nordstrom
• Nordstrom Rack
• Office Depot & OfficeMax
• P.C. Richard & Son
• Patagonia
• Pep Boys
• Petco
• PetSmart
• Pier 1 Imports
• Raymour & Flanigan
• REI
• Sam’s Club
• Sierra Trading Post
• Sportsman’s Warehouse
• Sprint (retail stores closed unless mall dictates otherwise; mall kiosks may open)
• Staples
• Stein Mart
• Sur La Table
• The Container Store
• The Paper Store
• TJ Maxx
• Tractor Supply Co.
• Trollbeads

Retailers in America raked in a record $7.9 billion on Black Friday last year, up nearly 18 percent from 2016, according to Adobe Analytics. So it makes sense that retailers would try whatever they can to get a larger share of that pot. But most of the retailers that are keeping the doors closed said it was to allow workers — and customers — time to enjoy the holiday with family and friends, the site noted. That mentality seems to be in line with the thinking of most Americans.

A September survey of more than 1,000 people by BestBlackFriday.com found that just 25 percent of Americans favored Thanksgiving openings, while 48 percent percent actually dislike Thanksgiving openings. About 27 percent indicated they were indifferent.

A few states — Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine — go so far as to ban stores from opening on the holiday.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.