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Macy's is kicking off Black Friday on Thanksgiving Day (M)

macy's black friday
macy's black friday

Kim Bhasin / Business Insider

For the second year in a row, Macy's is opening its doors at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day for Black Friday sales. 

Macy's plans to kick off Black Friday sales at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, BestBlackFriday.com reported. The retailer confirmed plans to open department stores at 5 p.m. to Business Insider. 

Last year, most Macy's stores were open from 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to 2 a.m. the following day, then reopened at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. Some stores stayed open for 29 hours straight — from 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving to 10 p.m. on Black Friday. 

"As we do every year, we surveyed our store associates well in advance, giving them an opportunity to tell us their preferences, and we staff Thanksgiving with associates who volunteer," Macy's spokesperson Julie Strider said in an email. "Additionally, associates who work any shift on Thanksgiving day will be compensated with overtime pay."

Macy's opened on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in 2013. The 5 p.m. opening time in 2016 marked the retailer's earliest Black Friday kickoff in history. 

Retailers such as Macy's, Walmart, and Kohl's have come under fire in recent years for kicking off their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving. At the same time, fewer shoppers are actually showing up in stores on Black Friday, as more people are making their purchases online. 

"Ultimately, consumers really want convenience and they want to get their item and get out of the store quickly," Josh Elman, a consumer and retail analyst with Nasdaq Advisory Services, told Business Insider. "They don't want to wait in long lines, they don't want to wait for a store to open anymore."

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