Whatever happened to those massive Thanksgiving night shopping lines?
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, when you can find some of the best deals of the year. But the shopping experience has changed in recent years.
In the past, the parking lots of big box stores would be filled with people waiting to get in on Thanksgiving night, which used to be the standard for when big retailers would let shoppers in.
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Those days are gone, with no major stores opening Thanksgiving night at all. But some shoppers do miss that experience of finishing their turkey and immediately hitting the mall.
"My husband really enjoys it. That's like one of his favorite holidays, and now it's kind of turned to online shopping, so he's doing it from home," said one shopper.
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"I miss the early lineups," said another shopper. "I miss being able to go out at like midnight and shop through the whole night. It was just fun, different."
If you want to get out there early, Target, Walmart and Best Buy all open Friday at 6 a.m. Mall of America gets going at 7 a.m.
When WCCO asked some shoppers why stores no longer open on Thanksgiving night, some theories included the rise of online shopping, the pandemic's impact on people's comfort in crowds, and also being considerate of giving employees their time off.
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