not only is Thanksgiving being ruined, the "tradition" of Black Friday is being reuined. as far as I'm concerned, NOBODY should take advantage of ruining tradition and everyone should just wait until Friday to shop as we do every year. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

We will be closed on Thanksgiving because we want to enjoy time with our families and we wouldn't want to be seen as ruining Thanksgiving which is one of our favorite holidays!

That said, I would say that the Media is unfairly portraying the stores, no one is forcing the employees to work on Thanksgiving and it's all based on customer demands.

I would agree that the stores shouldn't open if they don't have enough employees that WANT the extra pay and if they were indeed forcing their employees to work or lose their jobs.

Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving and if people want to work and customers are actually shopping then more power to everyone involved.

I do believe stores relying on one sale a year to make or break the rest of their year is a bit silly and gimmicky and opening up the day before your "sale" day is a bit insane. It's called Black Friday, not Black Thursday.

just because the stores open, you don't have to go

Ready to help me ? No, they just want my money. I avoid the insanity of screaming kids, and insane spenders who want the ultimate shiny object to complete their lives, and end up on Craigslist a short time later. Madness !

Give us a break, Patch and writer - this is junk!

What would you have people do? Spend time with family? As we have been instructed - the holidays are not about consumption. Consume less. Purchase a BMW - because the new ones get better gas mileage than the older models. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas.

It's a shame that these retailers are making employees work on Thanksgiving Evening. I was one of the 230,000 who signed the Target online petition. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day spent with family and friends, free of bombardment of sales! I guess Black Friday is not good enough. Unfortunately, because of corporate greed, the Thanksgiving of our childhood is gone!

the store is not ruining it, the people showing up are. By now people have to know they only have about 3 of what ever the "super low bargin" is. Everything else you can order on line at the same price. The ploy is to get you into the store. Duh. If you really feel for your fellow man who has to come work at these stores then don't shop at these special hours. Come shop during the regular hours. There are some brave Walmart, etc. workers that plan to strike, but most of them can't afford to do that because they will be fired. The only way to save their holiday is for people to only shop during the regular store hours.

I'm a die hard capitalist but there are a few things that you should not do. Opening on Thanksgiving Day is a "no go" for me. I would rather get up at 3am to get to the store, it has become kind of a tradition. But if these store's must be open, then they should at least ask for volunteer first. That would allow those who want to work to do so.

If the stores choose to open I guess that's their right; after all, nobody is forcing anyone to go shopping on Thanksgiving. (my family doesn't) The only downside would be that employees of these stores can't spend the holiday with THEIR families.

K-mart ,Walmart and Target are not ruining Thanksgiving, they are for profit businesses that are making a business decision because they think it will work. If they dont make money, stores close. If stores close, people lose jobs. Personally, if you want to go shop on Thanksgiving night, that is your choice, good for you have fun. If corporations want to open that night, good for them, I hope you increase your margins. If you have to work that night, that sucks, but having a jopb beats not having a job and if it bothers you that much then work somewhere that mirrors you values and work principals.

I guess long story short is we shouldn't vilify a for profit company for trying to make a profit.

I do recall the days when - if you forgot the cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving Day, you would have to drive across town to the one open store. Virtually nothing was open. I understand the business side of it, but I heard today that one store will open for a few hours very early on Thanksgiving. I think next year it will be all over -- Thanksgiving will be like a normal shopping day.

For me, Thanksgiving was a lot of work. Cleaning. Hauling out dishes. Cooking. Mother hen duties. I did run to Safeway, and the employees seemed to be having a lot of fun while working, wishing customers well. This is a little different, because we see each other weekly. And they got to go home in time for the game and dinner. I have never seen Safeway's parking lot so full and realized many people need that convenience in order to achieve that storybook Thanksgiving, even though our Safeway is open 24/7 normally. Due to my income drop, I have all but lost the art of shopping, and I appreciate that upside of the stores' marketing. But I agree with the above comment by Danna, will Thanksgiving just become a normal shopping day, and the word Thanksgiving become simply a quaint memory? I loved the empty streets, the closing of my office...

Black Friday ? Why not play the Funeral March ? Of course consumers in human form have the right to shop 24/7. They have a right to be trampled, poked in the eye with an umbrella, make fools of themselves, and buy discounted caskets. Why not ?everything else is on sale. Big brother brainwashing is alive and well. I like to shop sensibly. Give me an old thrift shop, a rainy Monday, and an ebay account.