Some retailers turning Thanksgiving Day into 'Black Thursday'

Tony Rohr was an employee at Pizza Hut for more than 10 years, working his way up from cook to general manager of an Indiana branch. But he thought his employment at the franchise had come to an abrupt end after he refused to assign staff to work this Thanksgiving.

"Why can't we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees, and they can have the day off?” Rohr asked his superiors, according to a report on local broadcaster WSBT.

Rohr said in the report that he was forced to leave the company for his defiance – but shortly after the story hit the media, Pizza Hut said on its Facebook page late Wednesday that it had recommended to Rohr's franchise that he be reinstated, and that the franchise had agreed. It was not immediately clear if Rohr had accepted. Pizza hut could not be reached for comment at the time of publication, but it said in its Facebook posting: “We fully respect an employee’s right to not work on a holiday, which is why the vast majority of Pizza Huts in America are closed on Thanksgiving.”

Rohr’s attempt to help preserve the spirit of Thanksgiving comes as the hunger for holiday profits – to be gained on a day traditionally meant for family time – is part of a growing trend among corporations.

Major retailers like Macy’s, Wal-Mart, Kmart and others are cutting their employees’ turkey time by opening doors earlier this year for door-buster deals that start on Thursday.

This year Kmart will open its doors as early as 6 a.m. Thursday and stay open until 11 p.m. Friday. Toys R Us will open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving until 10 p.m. on Black Friday. Other retailers including J.C. Penney, Kohl’s and Best Buy are also joining the trend.

According to the National Retail Federation, 33 million Americans will start their holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day. Though shoppers may benefit from deals, many service workers are missing out on family time.

Dozens of petitions on Change.org are demanding that retailers “save Thanksgiving” and push their store hours back to Friday. Some are calling for shoppers to boycott major retailers who open their doors on Thursday.

One of the reasons for early shopping hours may have to do to with this year's Thanksgiving Day landing on the Nov. 28, a relatively late date for the holiday traditionally held on the fourth Thursday of November.

“It’s an important period for retailers — with 30 percent of sales coming from the holidays — so they can’t afford to miss a day,” Time quoted Wharton marketing professor Barbara E. Kahn as saying.

Retailers are expecting 140 million shoppers over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend.

Electronics giant Best Buy says its doors will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving at more than 1,000 stores because of consumer demand.

“The key to Best Buy’s transformation is its singular focus on customer service, including giving consumers the opportunity to shop when and where they want,” the company said in a news release. “Last year, millions of people made it clear that they wanted to shop on Thanksgiving evening.”

Al Jazeera