Boise Target Stores to Close on Thanksgiving; Sales Kick-Off Earlier Than Ever

Target's adjustments to their holiday shopping season are directly related to public health safety.

It's a different message than the one Walmart sent last week. Walmart explained their decision to stay closed on Thanksgiving as a way to say thank you to their associates who's gone above and beyond what's typically asked of them throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to shoppers, Target CEO Brian Cornell explained that historically searching for the best deals during the holiday shopping means big crowds and that's something they don't feel comfortable with given the continued rising number of coronavirus cases. In 2019, Target opened their stores at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening to kick off its first round of holiday door busters. This year, they'll remain closed.

To keep crowds at bay, the company also plans to add 20,000 more items to their drive-up, pick-up and delivery services as well as kick off their biggest savings of the year a full month earlier. Cornell explains the deep discounts begin in October and will continue throughout the Christmas season both in store and online.

In our shopping poll last week, almost 67% of our listeners indicated that they plan on doing their shopping prior to Thanksgiving weekend or already have started. For those of eager to get it done early, we should add that not only will you be able to save big at Target in October, that's probably when Amazon Prime Day will happen this year.