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Holiday Forecast: Black Friday Gives Thanksgiving The Bird

A growing backlash against Thanksgiving Day sales is expected to help Black Friday kick holiday butt this season.

According to retail traffic counter ShopperTrak, Black Friday will likely reclaim the throne as the single-biggest shopping day of the year — a title it lost last year to “Super Saturday,” the final Saturday before Christmas.

Indeed, Thanksgiving doesn’t even rank on the research firm’s Top Ten shopping days chart.

“This year, there are a number of retailers that are choosing to remain closed on Thanksgiving, and we expect that to complement current trends and return Black Friday to the top spot for both sales and shopper visits,” said ShopperTrak chief revenue officer Kevin Kearns.

Among those sitting out Thanksgiving this year are Staples and GameStop. The latter’s U.S. stores president Mike Buskey acknowledged that “this is in stark contrast to what many other retailers are doing, but we are taking a stance to protect family time during this important holiday.”

The ShopperTrak forecast also jibes with a consumer survey by coupon site RetailMeNot, which found that only 10 percent of shoppers believe Black Friday savings are worth the wait.

ShopperTrak’s projects the biggest shopping days by volume will be, in order: Nov. 27, Black Friday; Dec. 19, Super Saturday; Dec. 12, the second Saturday before Christmas; Nov. 28, Saturday after Thanksgiving; and Dec. 5, Saturday after Cyber Monday.

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