Walmart Inc. will break with tradition this year by closing all its stores on Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Nov. 26, the company said Tuesday. Also, workers will get a third round of bonuses next month for working through the pandemic.
The Bentonville retailer typically keeps stores open on Thanksgiving, with its much-touted Black Friday sales event starting that evening. Sam's Club, Walmart's members-only warehouse division, will close its 599 stores for the Thanksgiving holiday as it does every year.
Store and club hours for Nov. 27 will be released at a later date, Walmart said in a news release.
"We know holiday shopping will be different this year, and we will be managing sales events differently," Walmart U.S. chief executive John Furner said in a memo to employees. A worker at a Walmart store in Texas wrote to executives suggesting they close stores for Thanksgiving "during this unusual year" so employees could spend the day with their families, Furner said.
"We know this has been a trying year, and you've stepped up," Furner said. "We want you to enjoy the day at home with your loved ones."
The Friday after Thanksgiving has long been considered the official start of the Christmas shopping season. But with the rise of online shopping and retailers' penchant for slashing prices on popular gift items earlier each year, it's no longer the biggest shopping day of the year in terms of revenue, said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
That day is now the last Saturday before Christmas, Cohen said.
Walmart normally has stores ready for Christmas shoppers by Nov. 1 and starts cutting prices on popular items even earlier. The retailer made waves last year when it began offering its online Christmas discounts on Oct. 24.
Still, Walmart draws large crowds each Thanksgiving, with eager shoppers lining up to get first dibs on doorbuster deals on toys, electronics and apparel. Last year, its Black Friday event began at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Health concerns related to the coronavirus have accelerated online spending this year, and retail industry experts expect that trend to continue.
Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics LLC, said Thursday that the pandemic "has crushed retail earnings and sales" in the first half of the year.
"With large parts of the country still experiencing rising case counts," Perkins said, "this cannot bode well for 'non-essential' brick-and-mortar retail operations as consumers will continue to look for contactless transactions."
Walmart also said Tuesday that its hourly employees will get extra cash with their Aug. 20 paychecks for working through the pandemic. The bonuses will total about $428 million, bringing Walmart's expenditure on incentives so far this year to $1.1 billion.
Full-time workers at all U.S. stores, clubs, warehouses and offices, as well as Walmart's private fleet truck drivers, will get $300. Part-time and temporary employees will receive $150. Managers and assistant managers at Walmart and Sam's Club stores and supply-chain facilities also will get bonuses, though the company did not disclose the amount.
"You've been working at an incredible pace, you've solved problems and you've set an amazing example for others," he said.
Walmart paid its U.S. workers a first round of bonuses in April and a second in June. The company also paid store employees their regular first-quarter bonuses on April 30, a month earlier than usual.
Walmart and other national retailers have drawn criticism during the pandemic from workers' advocacy groups for not offering employees hazard pay or other extra compensation for the risk of exposure they face on the job.
The nation's largest private employer, Walmart has more than 1.5 million workers. The retailer employs more than 2.2. million worldwide.