A surprising number of stores are going to be opening for business around 7 or 8 PM on Thanksgiving Day. Our local Wal-Mart is open 24x7, so Thanksgiving is a regular business day for them. But Kohl's, Walgreens, Macy's, Sears and probably a lot more will be open on Thanksgiving Day. I read in the paper that Von Maur, Nordstrom, Cabela's and Menards will all be closed. I'm not going shopping on the evening of Thanksgiving Day and I'm 99% sure I'm not going on Black Friday either. IKEA has their Expedit shelving unit on sale on Friday only, half off. That could get me into the store. I could stop on my way home from work. Plus, I really like the coffee they sell at their snack bar. And their Christmas decorations are different from the ones I can buy everywhere else. But if it weren't for half off Expedit, I would go another day.

I went to Wal-Mart 2 years ago on the evening of Thanksgiving. My next door neighbor's 3 year old son had the stomach flu and she didn't want to take him out. She asked if I could get them some Tylenol and Pedialyte. I went to Wal-Mart because everything else was closed. It was organized chaos with parts of the store roped off, people waiting in line in the different departments for the early morning Black Friday sales, and employees setting up displays. I just picked up the few things I needed and scooted out of there.