Retailers Keep Pushing Black Friday Hours Into Thanksgiving

(RTTNews) - A number of major retailers will be open on Thanksgiving for early Black Friday shopping events.

Kohl's department stores will kick off Black Friday sales two hours earlier this year, at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, while Macy's, Bon-Ton and Best Buy will open at the same time.

J.C. Penney and Sears have not announced Thanksgiving hours, but are expected to follow suit with 6 p.m. doorbusters, and there is no reason to believe Toys "R" Us will not open at 5 p.m. for second year in a row.

As always, Wal-Mart will be open all day. There is no word yet on rival Target's hours.

Meanwhile, Costco, BJ's Wholesale and Nordstrom are among the big chains taking a stand against Thanksgiving hours.

Retailers have endured some public backlash for making workers show up on Thanksgiving, but most brick-and-mortar giants can't afford to lose out on dwindling Black Friday revenues.

Shoppers spent an estimated $57.4 billion from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, Dec. 1, down from $59.1 billion in 2012, according to the National Retail Federation.

So, early start or not, Black Friday may be losing significance altogether, as the emergence of online commerce has people hunting for bargains before and after Thanksgiving.

NRF said 131 million planned to shop online on Cyber Monday last year, nearly as many as the 141 million Americans who shopped in-store and online during the entire Thanksgiving weekend.

E-commerce giant Amazon just announced it will offer "Black Friday" deals starting November 1, nearly four weeks ahead of its brick-and-mortar competitors.

Hoping to keep up, Target announced it is offering free shipping on all online purchases from Oct. 22 through Dec. 20, and is re-tooling its mobile apps and website.