Mall of America takes bold stand by closing on Thanksgiving this year

[Renew Deal]

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Bucking the trend in recent years of Black Friday shopping encroaching into Thanksgiving, the nation’s biggest mall has decided not to open on the holiday this year.

The Mall of America is notifying its employees and tenants this morning that it will close the mall — including Nickelodeon Universe and even its movie theaters — on Thanksgiving Day for the first time. Its 520-plus stores will have the option to open on the holiday, but mall executives expect that most will decide to remain closed.

“We’ve been talking about this for months, looking at the numbers, looking at the pros and the cons,” said Jill Renslow, the mall’s senior vice president of marketing and business development. “We’re excited to give this day back to our employees so they can celebrate with their families.”

The decision means that most of the 1,200 people who directly work for the mall will get Thanksgiving off. If stores follow suit, the approximately 13,000 people who work at them will also get the day off. A limited number of the mall’s security and maintenance personnel will still work since some stores will likely decide to open and the annual Walk to End Hunger fundraiser will still go on.
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Read more: http://www.startribune.com/mall-of-america-takes-bold-stand-by-closing-on-thanksgiving-this-year/396016881/

[niyad]

1. good for them. it is sad, however, when doing something right is actually a newsworthy thing.

[Lifelong Protester]

2. Good. Everyone needs a holiday.

Give 'em a break.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. Working holidays is not all bad ...

... especially if you are in a good union, so you get double- or triple-time for the holiday work.

Plus, some people will need to work holidays: medical, police. And, entertainment will be provided: theaters, restaurants, television, radio, many workers there.

There were times I volunteered for holidays, with the union-negotiated bump in hourly pay.

[7962]

3. LOVE it!

[tonyt53]

4. This really is big!!!!

[TeamPooka]

5. Good for them! I hope this starts a trend. I avoid stores that force workers to work on holidays

[LisaM]

6. If this goes through, maybe I'll actually shop there.

I go to Minneapolis for the holidays, so I could jump on the lightrail and spend some of my Christmas shopping money there...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Now give them Election Day off.

[cstanleytech]

15. Better yet extend the period to cast the votes to a whole week and make it so that

during that period every employer has to give their employees 2 complete days off.

[geardaddy]

8. Wow, I'm surprised.

I live in Minneapolis and the Maggot Mall (that's what I call it) is usually a huge draw during the holidays. Good for them for thinking of workers.

[wryter2000]

9. Good. I hope more follow suit.

It's Thanksgiving for pity's sake.

[awoke_in_2003]

10. It is good

to see such s large retail entity doing this. Maybe it will start a trend. I work in flight simulation, and people worldwide train at our center. Most of the world doesn't celebrate our thanksgiving, so we are usually open. I always take it off, but I work Christmas so the other guys can have off.

[Initech]

11. Excellent! The trend of mega sales in the last few years has been worrysome.

It needs to stop now. Bill Maher was right - the notion of constant growth and for profit all the time has become a serious problem.

Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

[peacefreak]

12. Noble as it sounds

My guess is the numbers aren't there. Retail has gotten progressively softer as sales on the internet have gotten stronger. Let's ax midnight opening while we're at it
(Yes I am a retail slave)

[Doc Holliday]

13. I suppose that if I were

a good little wingnut, my question would be: "Why does the Mall of America hate capitalism?"

[cstanleytech]

14. Good for them. nt

[murielm99]

16. Good.

It is a shame that closing on a major holiday is considered a bold move.

[MissMillie]

17. So happy to hear

that all those employees get to spend the holiday w/ their loved ones.

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. I've never understood being open on Thanksgiving

People only have so much money to spend. I worked in retail for 13 years back in the 70s and 80s, but that was before the whole "doorbuster specials" phenomenon. While we had a lot of traffic after Thanksgiving, sales weren't exceptional. The heaviest sales were the weekend before Christmas.

[mwooldri]

20. It used to be customary for shops to be closed Sunday...

... and even some had a half-day in the week. Open from 9 to 5. But then you also had families where one person could be a full time caregiver/homemaker. Now with more single parent and two worker parent households late night opening and Sunday trading are normal. But we still only have X to spend, no matter how long or short the stores are open.

[TexasBushwhacker]

22. Yeah, we had blue laws in Texas

They kept most retail stores closed on Sundays. Then Walmart went nationwide and since they sold groceries as well as everything else, they could stay open.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. The hope is

that this would be a "paid" holiday for those workers. I suspect for some, it will not be.

[Raine]

21. Good for them! nt