Insight - Walmart is no turkey for ditching Thanksgiving

Family time: A shopper is seen leaving a Walmart store in Pennsylvania. Walmart says it will not open its brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving so employees could spend time with their families. — Reuters

WITH a single sentence in a Tuesday press release, I suspect Walmart Inc has just killed a holiday shopping tradition that was badly in need of rethinking.

The big-box retailer, in addition to announcing US$428mil in bonuses for its workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said it will not open its brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving, which had become the de facto kickoff for in-store Black Friday discount events in recent years.

The retailer said it made the move so employees could spend time with their families during this time of crisis. You can bet, though, that many of its peers will follow suit, effectively marking the end of the recent ritual of scarfing down your turkey dinner in time to get a place in line to buy a big-screen TV.