You may well have heard about the rather unthankful act of the Buffalo-Area Mall over the most cherished holiday season in the US. This mall threatened stores with fines of up to $1,200 in total (or around $200 for every hour of thanksgiving night, from 6pm onwards, of shopping that they miss). This has, unfortunately for the mall, attracted national and worldwide attention, with many being pretty outraged at the mean act during what should be a time of thankfulness, love and forgiveness. So what drives the mall in wanting to get ahead of the Black Friday consumer purchase madness? And this also begs the question as to whether stores should be forced to open for thanksgiving at all.
Mall Fines…. Pretty common practice
You may or may not realise that fining stores for being closed during normal mall opening hours is pretty common practice. It stands to reason that a mall with closed shops may not make for the most attractive shopping destination, particularly as we consumers have more choice than ever. What’s more, many malls base their rent on each shops’ profit, and so if the shops are closed more often they’ll consequently receive less rent. As well as this the Buffalo-Area Mall that has recently been put under the media spot light is not, as you may think, the only mall to have put a Thanksgiving fine in place, with many malls opting for this tactic also.
Retails versus the importance of Thanksgiving
The world of retail is a competitive one. Season after season shops go head to head with cut price sales and fresh marketing tactics. This applies equally to malls, with each competing to feature the best shops around. Indeed the world of retail is somewhat of a cut throat industry, but how does this sit with the holiday season?
Well we all know that retail is an antisocial job; with many required to work late and over the weekends, as well as during the holiday season, such as Christmas and New Year. However the question is that given the importance of thanksgiving whether this holiday season should be any different?
Competing with the big boys
Another reason behind malls getting a head start on the Black Friday rush is that they really need another way of competing with online retailers. In recent years the rate of mall closures has increased and for those who remain they must also keep up with retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kmart, all of whom open on Thanksgiving night.
When all is said and done the retail industry will always meet demand. So in taking a look at the shopping figures for thanksgiving night we can clearly see that opening makes good, solid business sense. With many of us making use of this it then seems that this pattern of forced openings may look set to grow in the future, whether it is morally right or a choice that will be popular with retail workers is another matter altogether!
