Dive Brief:
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Simon Property Group on Thursday joined several retailers in shutting down on Thanksgiving Day.
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The mall REIT also shut down on the holiday last year, though in previous years its properties stayed open while other retailers and malls closed.
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The closure applies to the company’s U.S. properties, which will open back up for Black Friday, according to a company press release.
Dive Insight:
When Simon closed its properties on Thanksgiving last year, CEO David Simon alluded to "these challenging times," most likely referring to the pandemic's worrying consequences. While the pandemic is ongoing, free and available vaccinations have people out and about, including shopping once again in stores in much greater numbers. Simon this year didn't include a statement from its CEO suggesting its reasoning for a Thanksgiving closure.
It may simply be that a new ethos has taken hold. For a while, the holiday was being treated by many retailers as an opportunity to start Black Friday early. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, however, Thanksgiving once again has been increasingly treated by retailers as sacrosanct, at least when it comes to brick-and-mortar stores. Some retailers have made a point to state that their stores would close in order to give their employees the day to celebrate; REI has upped the ante for seven years now by closing down for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, encouraging its employees and customers alike to spent time outdoors instead.
In reality, though, thanks to the internet, retailers realize plenty of sales during the four-day weekend, including on the holiday itself. Last year Adobe tracked a record high $5.1 billion online sales on Thanksgiving Day, a 21.5% increase over 2019.
That may not help malls like Simon much. Indeed, as e-commerce and physical stores increasingly blur lines around sales, revenue and fulfillment, retail landlords are seeking ways to ensure that some portion of online sales are counted toward any rent based on percent-of-sales.
