Dive Brief:

• Macy’s will, like last year, open stores on Thanksgiving Day at 5 p.m., the department store confirmed on Monday. In previous years, Macy’s had opened at 6 p.m. on the holiday. 

• Hours at the department store will vary by location, according to Best Black Friday co-owner Phillip Dengler, who first reported the news to Retail Dive. Some will remain open the entire night until 10 p.m. Black Friday, while others stores close at 2 a.m., opening back up at 6 a.m. on Black Friday and closing again at 10 p.m., he said.

• More than 40 national stores are opening on the holiday, including GameStop, which has been closed on the holiday for the last three years. Nearly 60 retailers will be closed this year, according to Dengler’s research, more than ever before. 

Dive Insight:

Consumer sentiment is increasingly moving against retail stores opening on Thanksgiving Day, but thanks to the prevalence of e-commerce, shoppers can browse and buy from most if not all popular holiday retail destinations online. 

Despite that attitude, Macy's will nevertheless open its doors to capture brick-and-mortar shopping dollars, opening earlier than most retailers open on the holiday. The department store opened on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in 2014, at 6:00 pm at its New York flagship and other stores across the country, mere hours after hosting its iconic Thanksgiving Day parade. 

The retailer surveyed its store employees about their preferences and its full-line stores will be staffed with those who volunteer to work on the holiday; those who do receive overtime pay, a Macy's spokesperson told Retail Dive in an email. "We deeply value the commitment and contribution of our associates across the country as we continue to focus on meeting customer needs," she said.

It's not clear how many shoppers any retailer will actually see in stores, though. Thanksgiving Day will be quieter compared to last year, according to marketing solutions firm Market Track. Less than a third (30%) of consumers surveyed said they would shop in-store this Thanksgiving, compared to half last year, Market Track said. PwC similarly found that 28% will do most of their shopping only online on Thanksgiving — up 10% from last year — while 17% will shop both online and in stores, and 13% will shop only in stores.

A growing number of retailers have pushed back on the "Black Friday creep" and made a point of being closed on Thanksgiving. REI and a one-store outdoor Seattle retailer, Outside Research, in the past two years went as far as closing on Black Friday itself. 

In fact, many shoppers aren’t shopping in stores that day, either. Just 40% of shoppers plan to hit stores on the famous red letter shopping day, according to Market Track, and PwC found 30% combining online and in-store shopping, and 19% shopping only in store. Nearly a third (30%) of consumers planned to do the majority of their Black Friday shopping only online, PwC found.

This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2017 holiday shopping season. You can browse our holiday page and sign up for our holiday newsletter for more stories.