Walmart Will Close on Thanksgiving For the Third Year in a Row
For the third year in a row, Walmart will close its doors on Thanksgiving.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company confirmed that all of its supercenters and neighborhood markets will be closed on Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, 2022, a testament to the longevity of a new post-pandemic retail trend gaining momentum across the industry.
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Walmart stores will be open during normal hours on Black Friday, or between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. for most stores. Sam’s Club locations will also be shut for the day, as they have in previous years.
In 2019, the retailer opened stores for regular hours on Thanksgiving day, though Black Friday deals did not kick off until 6 p.m. local time. Walmart closed on Thanksgiving for the first time in 2020.
“It’s a thing of the past,” Walmart U.S. President John Furner said of Thanksgiving hours in an interview with The Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday. “All of our associates will be able to spend time with their loved ones this year.”
Walmart said in a statement that closing stores on Thanksgiving was “just one way we are saying thank you to our teams for their dedication and hard work this year.”
Walmart in September announced a goal to hire 40,000 new associates — both seasonal and full-time — in roles across stores, delivery, customer service and truck driving. The hiring goals fall short of last year’s, when Walmart said it was looking to hire 150,000 employees for mainly long-term roles meant for the holidays and beyond, as well 20,000 associates for supply chain roles.
Walmart operates over 5,335 retail units in the U.S., including 4,735 Walmart stores and 600 Sam’s Club stores.
In recent years, other chains such as Target, Dicks’ Sporting Goods and Best Buy have also opted to close its stores and give workers Turkey Day off. Thus far in 2022, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target — and now Walmart — have announced Thanksgiving closures for 2022, while other stores have yet to make announcements.
In a more drastic move, REI this year has made the decision to permanently close its stores every year on Black Friday after closing its doors on Black Friday every year since 2015. The annual practice, dubbed “Opt Outside,” was launched as a way to allow workers to spend time with family and friends during the Thanksgiving Day weekend and encourage shoppers to spend some time outside.
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