Why Walmart will be closed on Thanksgiving and how Black Friday will be different this year

Walmart will close all of its store locations throughout the U.S. on Thursday, Nov. 25, for Thanksgiving.

This is the second consecutive year the retail giant will close for the holiday. However, Walmart is expanding much of its Black Friday delivery and online shopping options it has launched in recent years in efforts to compete with other large retailers, including Amazon.

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In past years, it was customary for the Walmart Supercenters and Walmart Neighborhood Markets to shut down for a few hours in the evening, giving employees some time to enjoy Thanksgiving, before re-opening shortly before midnight for Black Friday sales.

But 2020 brought many changes. Most Walmarts are no longer open 24/7, due to pandemic concerns and restrictions, and instead of closing at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday, the stores will close at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 24, and will not reopen until 5 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 26.  

Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer product for Walmart, said the new practice is a “thank you” to employees for their hard work.

“Pickup and delivery from stores will operate as normal the day before Thanksgiving and will resume at 12 p.m. local time the day after,” Ward said in a statement.

General merchandise coach Kayla Fremin, who works for a Walmart Supercenter near Norman and Noble, welcomes the day-off becoming permanent.

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“It was actually one of our associates from Texas who sent that in to Dacona Smith, who is one of our vice presidents,” Fremin said. “They really liked the idea, so that we could relax and recover with our families for the holiday, so they started it in motion last year, and I don’t know if it will ever stop. We definitely appreciate it.”  

Walmart shifts from Black Friday to 'Deals for Days' offer over full week

As part of its expanded online shopping efforts, Walmart has offered discount deals for two Fridays in advance of Black Friday. 

The "Deals for Days" events were offered Nov. 5, 12 and then after skipping a Friday, will be offered again on the 26th. 

Its Black Friday pricing on certain products will be applied as early as Monday, Nov. 22.

“This is so that customers have the freedom to do online shopping if they want to, or if they want to come in, but either way, it’s not so packed,” Fremin said. “So they have more freedom, despite COVID, and it’s also a little bit easier on customers to spread out their money while shopping for Christmas.”

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For the store on Cedar Lane in Norman, these Friday events have been sparsely attended. But Fremin said it was simply suggestive of the shift nationwide toward online shopping and delivery.

“Honestly, I don’t know if it will affect our Black Friday sales at all,” Fremin said. “And everything that we’re going to be offering in-store for Black Friday will start that Monday at 7 p.m.”

Electronics and toys have been popular, and are expected to remain popular items throughout the shopping season. 

“So far, we’ve had a lot of laptops, tablets, a whole lot of TVs selling, and I can only imagine that it’s going to be a lot of toys and electronics for the actual Friday,” Fremin said.

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Christmas shopping from your couch: Walmart extends delivery options

Walmart also announced three new delivery updates for November and December.

The company is expanding store delivery nationwide by two hours until 10 p.m. local time. This allows customers to place orders up to 6 p.m. for same- or next-day delivery and additional time for amending orders if needed.

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Stores are also adding more delivery windows through service providers on Spark Driver, Walmart’s delivery app.

These delivery services aren't free. There are one-time delivery fees, and additional expenses for deliveries completed in under two hours.

Walmart+ members have some of those services included in their membership fees. This membership was viewed as an attempt to win back shoppers from Amazon when it launched in September 2020, as its annual fee is cheaper than Amazon's Prime membership program. 

In addition, Walmart is allowing delivery of oversized items like bicycles, 70-inch TVs and manufactured Christmas trees, as well as alcohol.

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