GameStop Opens On Thanksgiving, Because Keeping Pro-Employee Policies Is Hard
As the years go on, it seems that more and more companies are opening earlier in the day on Thanksgiving to get a slice of that Black Friday pie. What began as midnight store openings has evolved into stores opening in the early evening on Thanksgiving day, or even staying open throughout the entire holiday. GameStop, to its credit, has been able to resist the lure to a certain extent, keeping its stores closed on Thanksgiving Day and instead opting for midnight openings.
That's all about to change, though, as GameStop has revealed that it will open on Thanksgiving Day this year. GameStop confirmed this new plan in a statement to Kotaku, in which it claims that the decision was made after requests from both sales associates and customers. Notably, this breaks with a rather long-held GameStop policy that shut down stores for the holiday out of respect for employees and their families.
"To better serve our guests with their evolving holiday shopping needs, this year GameStop will open its stores for a shortened and limited time on Thanksgiving Day," a GameStop representative said. "Many of our store associates and guests have asked for this. We have heard their requests and are making an adjustment to our previous position on this topic."
It's hard to imagine a lot of GameStop employees being okay with the idea of working on Thanksgiving Day, much less flat-out requesting it. GameStop, for its part, says that hours will be reduced on Thanksgiving, and it'll presumably offer holiday pay for the employees that get stuck working. Still, Thanksgiving/Black Friday are pretty much the worst days of the year to be a retail employee, so extra pay may not make up for that.
As disappointing as it is to see GameStop finally give into the pressure and open on Thanksgiving, it's not really shocking. After all, it's a move that many retail outlets have made in recent years, so many of us probably expected GameStop to follow suit eventually. What do you think of this decision? Head down to the comments section and let us know!