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Business & Tech

Dearborn Stores Prepare for Early Start to Black Friday

Macy's, Kohl's, Target and Best Buy will open their doors at midnight on Nov. 25.

It will be a little harder to tell where Thanksgiving ends and Black Friday begins this year as several big box stores open their doors at midnight Nov. 25 in preparation for the biggest shopping day of the year.

, Kohl's, and will open earlier than ever before. Last year, stores opened at 4 a.m.

Kristy Welker, a spokesperson for Target, said they are changing their hours this year for customer convenience.

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"We have heard from our guests that they want Target to be their first stop for their Black Friday shopping," Welker said. "By opening at midnight, we are making it easier than ever for our guests to shop the great assortment we offer, when they want to shop."

The decision, however, hasn't sat so well with some of the employees of the stores, who will barely be finishing up Thanksgiving dinner as they prepare to go into work for one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

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"For us sales people who have to work, these retail stores keep pushing up the time of opening (and) its no longer Black Friday–it's Thanksgiving!" Dearborn resident Andrea Haag, a local retail employee, said on the Dearborn Patch Facebook page.

"It wouldn't surprise me if next year they will be fighting to see who can open first on Thanksgiving Day," added resident Donna Hay.

For , the decision by Macy's to open at midnight sparked a following of mall stores looking to capitalize on early shoppers.

Town Center Manager Catherine O'Malley shared that Guess, , , Express and several other stores are expected to open at midnight on Friday. As a result, she said, the whole mall is opening early–though most stores will not be open for business until 8 a.m.

"At first, we thought it was just going to be Macy’s, which wouldn’t impact us at all," O'Malley said. "However, because they advertised it, several of our stores want to open with them. As we saw that progressing, we rescheduled our staffing, engineering, housekeeping and security."

Normal mall hours on Black Friday, during which all stores will be open, are 8 a.m.-10 p.m. JC Penney's will open at 3:30 a.m., while Sears will open at 4 a.m.

O'Malley said they're not expecting any crowding issues or lines outside of the mall as a result of the midnight opening.

"It’ll be as if we’re starting business at our 8 a.m. normal, traditional Black Friday time," she said.

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