Black Friday will look different this year in Carson City, many stores closing for Thanksgiving
Crowds have often flocked to the major corporate retailers in Carson City for the best deals of the season, and in recent years, stores have begun to open earlier and earlier for a leg up, breaching into Thanksgiving day. However this year, many stores are finally closing their doors on Thanksgiving Day, and more bargain hunters are turning to online deals for their holiday shopping.
According to a recent national survey by Deloitte, 57 percent of consumers felt anxious about in-store shopping this holiday season. Deloitte also noted that 74 percent of consumers planned to shop online to avoid crowds, up from 62 percent last year. Retailers have adapted to changing consumer preferences by creating safer in-person shopping environments.
Many major retailers, such as Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Depot and Target, will remain closed on Thanksgiving Day, and many retailers have already started their “Doorbuster” Black Friday deals to help mitigate large crowds and keep social distancing measures in place, according to the Retail Association of Nevada (RAN).
Walmart CEO John Furner also released a statement that Walmarts will close for Thanksgiving this year, the first time since the 1980s.
Shop local Small Business Saturday
Carson City area shoppers, residents and visitors are encouraged to safely support small businesses, every day not just on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28. As of today, retailers must adhere to the 50 percent capacity limits, alternatively, many businesses use online marketplace platforms, which may be more convenient. The COVID – 19 impact left many small businesses reliant on online platforms to maintain sales.
A great way to locate Carson City’s small businesses is to visit:
— carsoncitychamber.com
These sites provide shoppers a great resource for linking small business sites into a central location. If you choose to visit in person, businesses are required to determine and limit the number of shoppers and impose mask compliance. Please understand these mandates are to limit the spread of the virus and businesses must do this to stay open.
Black Friday this year will undoubtedly look different than previous years in Nevada, given that retailers must abide by a 50 percent capacity limit, but many shoppers are opting for online shopping this year to avoid crowds and help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
In Nevada, non-store retail sales, a measure of online shopping activity, have grown significantly this year as consumer shopping habits shifted during the pandemic, according to RAN. Total non-store retail sales for January through August (latest data available) totaled $2.7 billion in 2020, up 143.9 percent compared to the same period in 2019. During the same timeframe, non-store retails sales grew from 7.9 percent of consumer sales to 18.3 percent of sales.
"We're seeing indications that Nevada consumers are feeling the financial effects of the pandemic more than the national average and are beginning to tighten their household budgets," said Bryan Wachter, Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs of RAN. "With Nevada being second in the nation for unemployment, we are not expecting that holiday sales in Nevada will be setting any records, and in fact, we might even see numbers decline this year in Nevada."
Thanksgiving hours for grocery stores in Carson City and beyond are as follows:
- Smith’s Food and Drug stores will be open Thanksgiving day until 2 p.m. but pharmacies will be closed.
- Raley’s stores will be open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving day.
- Trader Joe’s stores will be closed Thanksgiving day.
- Save Mart and FoodMaxx stores will be open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving day.
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