I'm sure Target Corp. knew a few people would not be happy about its decision to open at midnight on Black Friday.
But I doubt the company expected this much blowback. An online petition started by a Target employee in Omaha to protest the move has now collected 175,000 signatures. And Change.org said Seth Coleman, a local Target employee, will deliver those signatures to CEO Gregg Steinhafel at Target's corporate headquarters on Monday.
"We haven't heard from Change.org that they plan to deliver a petition," Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in an e-mail. "We respect our team members' right to express their opinions."
The petition won't change a thing. Target's great Black Friday machine is already in motion and nothing short of an alien invasion can stop it. But the petition will attract a lot of attention and continue to make Target look like the Ebenezer Scrooge of Thanksgiving.
My problem isn't necessarily the midnight openings. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. When you open stores at 6 a.m. one year and then 4 a.m. the next, logic dictates midnight would be just around the corner.
My main beef is how retailers publicly justify their decisions.
"People want to shop through the night," a Macy's executive was recently quoted.
"Our customers told us they would rather stay up late to shop than get up early, so we're going to hold special events on Thanksgiving and Black Friday," Wal-Mart chief merchandising officer for U.S. stores Duncan Mac Naughton said in a statement.
"We know our customers like to get an early start on their Black Friday shopping, so we're offering more savings than ever and providing even more hours to save by opening our stores at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving night," Greg Ahearn, chief marketing officer for Toys 'R' Us U.S., said in a statement.
That's right, folks. Retailers are doing this for YOU. You spoke, they listened. Opening at midnight or earlier was not a calculated move to capture a bigger slice of an ever-shrinking sales pie. Retailers had no choice but to give customers what they want.
Call me cynical, but I have a hard time believing customers were flooding the phone lines of retailers, asking, no DEMANDING, they open at midnight.
What annoys me about this spin is that retailers are abdicating any skin in the game. Instead, they're passing responsibility (or is it blame?) to the shopper.
In a way, they're right. Target would not open at midnight unless it knew people would show up. But let's not confuse the order of things. Retailers do something, customers respond. If customers like it, retailers will keep doing it or do more of it.
If customers really drove things, then retailers should dispense with door busters and simply give away laptops, iPads and flat screens at no charge. Heck, throw in a free ride home as well.
Not all retailers are following the pack. Sears, the country's largest department store chain, will stick to its 4 a.m. opening, though its Kmart chain will retain its 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day opening.
Thomas Lee • 612-673-4113
