New York- It’s supposed to be a holiday in the United States but this year’s Thanksgiving celebration is different from previous years. Rather than spending the day eating turkey with their families, most Americans are out in the malls doing shopping anticipating a huge weekend crowd Friday. Most stores are usually closed during Thanksgiving but now establishments extended their operating hours.

Among the establishments that operated for Thanksgiving include Sears, Kmart, some outlets of Sports Authority, Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. Sears and Kmart, in particular, have been opened during Thanksgiving since 1991. Most consumers could not resist the temptation of buying a variety of items at 50% off. Willy Gerelbest, a 45-year old counselor from Brooklyn, narrated that he was able to find a sneaker at Kmart worth $9.99.

According to David Friedman, President for Marketing of Sears Holding Corp., said they decided to operate from 7 am – 12 noon due to the positive feedback they got from consumers when they had their “Black Friday” sale last month. Workers will be receiving holiday pay and come home in time to share a Thanksgiving meal with their families.

The Sears outlet at the Mall of America, the biggest shopping and entertainment center in the United States boosted their sales with a charity walk. Helen Schultz was able to purchase a 19-inch RCA LCD HDTV for $129.99, a drop of $70 from its regular price. Although she disagreed with doing shopping on Thanksgiving Day, Schultz understood the necessity to do so.

Jerry Storch, who is the CEO of Toys R Us, said that their decision to open earlier than usual on Thanksgiving Day was due to the positive results of their midnight opening in 2009. Storch believes that their toys such as the green and red singing doll Santa-ma-jig would be among the hot commodities during the sale.

In 2009, online consumer spending on Thanksgiving netted $300 million in contrast to $887 million on Cyber Monday, based on comScore. Akamai Technologies, a firm that monitors traffic to 270 retail sites, revealed that online guests peaked at 11 am and registered an increase of 14 percent from Wednesday.

Early afternoon figures from Coremetrics revealed that online sales for Thanksgiving Day increased 10 percent compared to 2009. However, the average size of order decreased 18 percent from 18 percent but figures are expected to pick up as the day progresses.

In a country beset by high unemployment rate, store workers do not mind working during Thanksgiving for the additional wage and extra time off.

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