Target is holding its Black Friday preview sale this Friday and Saturday, a week later than last year because this Thanksgiving is the latest it can possibly be.
The sale, which has expanded to two days, will have four times the number of deals as last year on items including TVs, hoverboards, and Instant Pots.
While it had seemed that retailers were pushing holiday sales earlier and earlier every year, retailers are adopting different strategies in a year with six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
With less of an expected shopping lull between the two holidays, some retailers have started holiday sales earlier. But others are waiting a bit later to start rolling out deals closer to Thanksgiving.
Walmart decided to hold its early holiday sale nearly two weeks ago, the earliest its ever held that sale. Kohl's offered more than 100 pre-Black Friday deals last weekend starting Nov. 1, when retailers typically begin to roll out their holiday ads and in-store decorations.
For many years, retailers pushed pre-Black Friday sales earlier and earlier into November and even October. The phenomenon, known as Black Friday creep, also refers to how many retailers now launch their actual Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day.
But as for Thanksgiving Day creep, not much appears to have changed yet for this year. Target said it will once again open stores at 5 p.m. on the holiday, the same time it did last year. Kohl's will join it in opening its doors at the same time.
J.C. Penney will also once again open at 2 p.m. on the holiday. And for the first time, Bed Bath & Beyond, which has been struggling with sales, will open on Thanksgiving starting at 5 p.m.
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