For the fifth year in a row, Walmart will close its doors on Thanksgiving.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company confirmed that all of its supercenters and neighborhood markets will be closed on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, 2023, a testament to the longevity of a new post-pandemic retail trend gaining momentum across the industry.
“Walmart stores will be closed once again on Thanksgiving Day so associates can spend the day with their families,” the retailer wrote in a September release on its website.
Walmart stores will open at 6:00 a.m. local time on Black Friday, November 29, according to USA TODAY.
In 2019, Walmart opened stores for regular hours on Thanksgiving day, though Black Friday deals did not kick off until 6 p.m. local time. Walmart closed its stores on Thanksgiving for the first time in 2020 and has done so through this year.
“It’s a thing of the past,” Furner previously said of Thanksgiving hours in a 2022 interview with “The Today Show” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. “All of our associates will be able to spend time with their loved ones this year.”
Walmart said in a statement that closing stores on Thanksgiving was “just one way we are saying thank you to our teams for their dedication and hard work this year.”
In September 2022, Walmart announced a goal to hire 40,000 new associates — both seasonal and full-time — in roles across stores, delivery, customer service and truck driving. The hiring goals fall short of 2021’s goals, when Walmart said it was looking to hire 150,000 employees for mainly long-term roles meant for the holidays and beyond, as well 20,000 associates for supply chain roles. The retailer did not announce specific hiring goals for last year and this year said it has been making hires yer-round to staff up for the season.
In recent years, other chains such as Target and Dicks’ Sporting Goods have also opted to close its stores and give workers Turkey Day off. In 2022, REI notably made the decision to permanently close its stores every year on Black Friday after closing its doors on Black Friday every year since 2015. The annual practice, dubbed “Opt Outside,” was launched as a way to allow workers to spend time with family and friends during the Thanksgiving Day weekend and encourage shoppers to spend some time outside.
In 2021, Target also announced plans to permanently close all of its stores on Thanksgiving, which it has done annually ever since.
