# Are you shopping on Thanksgiving? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 25, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868 "2009-11-25T03:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/1 "2009-11-25T03:09:59Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=541052). Twenty years ago, the only stores open on Thanksgiving were grocery stores and even they had greatly reduced hours. Now everyone from Radio Shack to K-Mart is open on Thanksgiving. I just wonder what kind of customers go out on that day. People waiting for turkey to get done? escaping the relatives? trying to beat out the Black Friday mob? ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/2 "2009-11-25T09:00:35Z")
Roses stores were open on Thanksgiving Day 20 years ago. I remember that as a 17 year old I had to work and my Mom brought me a plate from dinner. That was the first Thanksgiving I didn’t get to spend with my family. It was never busy and I was pissed that I had to miss the whole thing for a handful of people who had nothing better to do. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/3 "2009-11-25T12:55:38Z")
It gives large family groups something to do while waiting for their table at a restaurant. Now _those_ are the folks I never quite figured out. The singles and couples I understood, and I liked waiting on them because they were always super-polite and generally just tickled to get a turkey dinner at all. Even the smaller families I understood why the wouldn’t want to bother going through the whole deal of making a big dinner. But we had groups of 12-20 in all day long, and they _always_ bitched about how our special Thanksgiving menu didn’t include something Grandma always makes. I wanted to point out Grandma was sitting right there–take her home and have her make it for you. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/4 "2009-11-25T14:23:18Z")
I just discovered Michael’s Crafts will be open Thanksgiving from 5pm - 9pm. We’re back to having “issues” in my family, and I look forward to being able to leave with a purpose. If I were to say “I’m tired/irritated/blood boiling mad and am leaving” my Mom would have a tizzy. OTOH, if I say “I need to run to [store] for [some special deal]” she’ll be just fine. Family togetherness goes only so far. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/5 "2009-11-25T14:36:22Z")
I’ve had some very sad, lonely Thanksgivings. Sometimes there were just three of us (like the three bears). I would put the stinking turkey in the oven and me and my little girl would take a walk in what passes for woods around here, if the weather was nice. If it was raining and miserable, we would go scope out potential Christmas presents (to buy in the coming days, we didn’t do that black Friday thing) at a store that was open, and I for one lunged at a chance to get out of the house. Not everyone has a big loving Norman Rockwell-family with grammy and gramps and wacky uncles and aunts and loads of cousins running around to cook for, you know. To all of you working on Thanksgiving, I just want to tell you how much it is appreciated! And if it’s a bummer for you, apologies - but think how lucky you are to have family you actually want to spend The Big Holiday with. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/6 "2009-11-25T14:53:01Z")
No shopping for me. I’ll wake up, take the dog for a walk and try to get her to go before we take the 3 hour car ride to mom’s. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/7 "2009-11-25T20:09:50Z")
The grocery stores in Chicago are no more crowded on Thanksgiving than they are on Saturday afternoons. I had to go to Walmart to pick up some meds and the shelves were pretty empty today. And the store wasn’t crowded at all, so I’m assuming the store is holding off restocking so they can go for it on Friday ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/8 "2009-11-25T20:44:25Z")
I hope not. Not unless we discover that something crucial is missing at the last minute. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/9 "2009-11-25T22:25:45Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I hope not. Not unless we discover that something crucial is missing at the last minute. That’s what I was going to say. I expect we will, because we always discover something important is missing at the last minute. ---
**Author:** ![Peg\_Leg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90db22/32.png) [@Peg\_Leg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg_Leg)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-shopping-on-thanksgiving/518868/10 "2009-11-26T08:10:36Z")
Amazon is online today. So yes.