JCPenney Co. Inc. (Plano, Texas) has announced it will open its doors on Thanksgiving evening to try getting an early jump on the holiday shopping season. Most of the chain’s 1100 stores will open at 8 p.m. that Thursday and will be open for 25 straight hours.
Last year, Penney didn’t open until 6 a.m. on Friday, among the later kickoffs to the season.
“Obviously, we were one of the last to open (last year),” Tony Bartlett, Penney’s executive vp of stores, told Associated Press, but this year “we’re all in.” The retailer will also give away nearly 2 million holiday snow globes starting at 4 a.m. on Friday, a tradition the retailer discontinued last year.
Macy’s Inc. (Cincinnati) was the first to announce it would break the invisible midnight barrier this year, opening many of its stores at 8 p.m.