Dive Brief:

• Macy’s, which sponsors the country's preeminent holiday parade every Thanksgiving morning in New York, will once again open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, the department store told Retail Dive in an email Monday. Stores will be staffed by employees who opt to work that day and will receive performance-based bonuses and overtime pay on top of their hourly pay and employee discount, according to a Macy’s spokesperson.

• "Most if not all" Macy’s stores will stay open until 2 a.m. Black Friday morning, close for four hours, then open again on Black Friday at 6 a.m., according to a report from deals site BestBlackFriday.com. "Doorbuster" promotions will last until 1 p.m. on Black Friday, BestBlackFriday said.

• While some Macy’s stores have stayed open all night from the evening of Thanksgiving Day through Black Friday without closing, no stores contacted by BestBlackFriday said that would be the plan, according to the report.

Dive Insight:

Shopping on Thanksgiving Day has emerged as a controversial activity, and more than 60 retailers this year have already announced that they won't be open on the holiday.

Thanksgiving and retail's traditional day-after Black Friday event have become less important in recent years as holiday shopping has begun earlier and lasted longer, and as e-commerce has made shopping possible any time of the day. This year Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 22, lands on the calendar earlier than most years, which gives shoppers (and retailers) even more time.

BestBlackFriday expects Macy's Thanksgiving and Black Friday promotions to mostly follow last year's, and said Macy's Black Friday ad will likely appear in the first or second week of the month. "While Macy's had a separate Thanksgiving circular in the past, it appears it has abandoned that strategy for a single comprehensive ad covering the entire weekend," according to the report. "As usual, we also expect the online sale to be all day on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, with free shipping available for orders $49 and more." 

While plenty of retailers have seen fit to shutter on Thanksgiving, trumpeting their respect for the gathering in the process, others can't really afford that. "We do not fault the biggest stores — Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy's — for deciding to open on Thanksgiving," BestBlackFriday co-owner Phillip Dengler told Retail Dive in an earlier email. "They are all competing with Amazon on Thanksgiving, and opening their brick-and-mortar locations at least evens the playing field a bit. Smaller and medium retailers can get away with closing on Thanksgiving, while the largest retailers cannot." 

For its part, Macy's said it is responding to its customers' desires. "Our plan is designed to support our growth strategy and empower and incentivize our colleagues, as they all have a role to play in our performance and a stake to win in our success," the Macy's spokesperson said. "We deeply value the commitment and contribution of our colleagues across the country as we continue to focus on meeting the needs of our customer."