Poll: Only 6% of Black Friday goers will shop on Thanksgiving


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SALT LAKE CITY — Several major retailers are opening earlier than ever on Thanksgiving day for Black Friday, but a new poll says few Black Friday shoppers will actually step foot in the store that early.

The telephone survey found that while people plan to spend more time shopping for the holidays, many of those will not be bargain hunting in the process, and that includes Black Friday. Only 32 percent of holiday shoppers will head out for the biggest shopping day of the year.

Of those shoppers, 50 percent will head out in the wee hours of Friday morning between midnight and 6 a.m. But a mere 6 percent of Black Friday sale shoppers will spend Thanksgiving night in the shops.

The survey comes after the announcement that Walmart, along with Sears, Kmart and Toys R Us will open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving day for Black Friday deals — two hours earlier than last year. Target will open at 9 p.m., the earliest opening for the retailer as well.

According to Offers.com, the business which commissioned the survey, this suggests that "most consumers aren't willing to let shopping interfere with family time."

The earlier openings have employees up in arms, though. A petition, started by a Target employee who wants to stop the "Thanksgiving Creep" has gained more than 218,000 signatures.

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"Thanksgiving... is one of the three days us retail workers get off a year: a day most all of us spend with family we only get to see on that day," wrote the employee, identified as C. Renee.

All these numbers make us wonder: what other interesting figures are associated with the holiday?

  • 26: the number of consecutive hours Sears will be open for the sale.
  • 20 to 40: the percentage of total annual sales Black Friday makes up for retailers.
  • 1,000 plus: the number of "door buster deals" Sears offers at its 8 p.m. opening.
  • 52.8: the percentage of Americans who have already begun their holiday shopping.
  • 51: the percentage of consumers who plan to go holiday shopping Thanksgiving weekend.
  • 81.1: the percentage of shoppers who will buy gift cards for another person
  • $28.79 billion: the amount expected to be spent on gift cards this holiday season
  • $586.1 billion: What the National Retail Federation predicts consumers will spend during the holiday season. It's only a 4 percent rise over last year, making it the smallest gain since 2009.
  • 5: the average percentage that shoppers would save by waiting to purchase until after Cyber Monday, Time says.
  • 21: number of years "Buy Nothing Day" has been celebrated on Black Friday by people in 60 countries.

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Celeste Tholen Rosenlof

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