Wake up! It's time to shop
At 12:01 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, retailers want you to bring yourself -- and your wallet -- to their stores

By Andrea K. Walker
Sun Reporter
Originally published November 12, 2006

Diehard shoppers now have a Midnight Madness to call their own, and it comes just a few hours after Thanksgiving dinner.

Across the country, more malls and retailers plan to open their doors just minutes into the Friday after Thanksgiving to get an even earlier jump on the traditional start of holiday shopping season. The events - named after the midnight games and parties that kick off the basketball season at many colleges - are designed to lure shoppers in the pre-dawn Friday hours before many competitors even open their doors at 5 a.m. or so.

It's a strategy that is gaining momentum with retailers as they try to grab the attention of shoppers who have more choices than ever at both bricks-and-mortar stores and on the Internet. Some malls and retailers have experimented with midnight opening during past years, and the success is prompting more of them to expand it this season.

The day after Thanksgiving has long been synonymous with early openings, overnight waits in long lines and fights over the likes of Tickle Me Elmo dolls. Retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy often advertise steep discounts on laptops, DVD players and other popular electronics to lure crowds to arrive early that day.

And each year, retailers have tried to inch the madness of the season's start a little earlier.

Those who didn't follow suit paid a price. Some shopping center owners said they lost customers to competitors with earlier hours. Too many people were shopping early at the big retailers for sharp discounts and then going home to take a nap just as the malls were opening their doors.

"Last year, most of the malls suffered because they didn't open until 8 or 9 in the morning," said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. "Most people are done with their shopping by then. They get up to get a deal, and they're done with their day by 8 or 9 a.m."

Baltimore-based Prime Retail Inc. will open 12 of its outlet malls at midnight, including those in Queenstown and Hagerstown in Maryland, where deals will be offered at such places as the Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Store. The company has experimented with midnight openings in other markets for several years. The openings in Maryland will take place for the first time this year.

Tanger Outlet malls, KB Toys and Chelsea Property Group malls, including the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets in Northern Virginia, also are among the retailers with midnight openings.

"We want to make sure they have the opportunity to come to Prime outlets and spend their money before they spend it somewhere else," said Paula Rowland, chief marketing officer for Prime Retail Inc. "All the retailers are out there competing for the shopping dollar that people have for the holidays, and we want to win."

It is unclear how much the earlier openings affect total industry sales for the season. KB Toys, which plans to open 75 stores at midnight this year, up from nine in 2005, said it's a boost to sales at least for that day.

"Most stores that were open at midnight last year had a more positive day compared to the year before when they opened regular hours," said Ernie Speranza, chief marketing officer for the toy company.

The challenge for retailers that opt for midnight starts is to keep the momentum going through what turns into a 21-hour shopping day.

"The midnight-to-1 a.m. time frame might be successful," said Jay McIntosh, director of retail and consumer products at Ernst & Young. "It's hard to see where the 3-to-5 a.m. works."

Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving, so named because it can boost ledgers from red ink to profitable black - is the traditional kickoff to the holiday season. And although it's not the busiest day of the season anymore - the Saturday before Christmas usually wins that distinction - about 60 million people shopped on Black Friday last year, according to BigResearch, which tracks shopping trends.

Many of the malls turn the day into an event with live bands and special promotions. Some have partnered with local hotels so shoppers can spend the night. The Prime Retail outlet in Hagerstown will have a pajama jam: People who shop in their nightwear will get a goody bag, some with $100 gift cards.

"It's almost starting to become a family or girls' night out," said Rowland of Prime Retail. "Something you do after you eat turkey. For some people, it's become like a party."

Not every store in the shopping centers that open participates in the midnight events. For example, Meghan Kozur, a manager at Kasper Outlet Store at Prime Retail in Queenstown, said the apparel center will open at 6 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving rather than at midnight. She said it was a corporate decision made for staffing reasons.

Patrice Clark, a 25-year-old optician from Baltimore, said she religiously hits the early morning specials the day after Thanksgiving. She maps out a plan the night before and is usually up by 2 a.m. to get in line early. So the idea of midnight shopping is appealing to her.

"I'm up by 2 a.m. anyway," she said. "What's a couple of extra hours?"

Lori Mulraine of Silver Spring is also an early morning shopper that Friday, but not so sure she wants to participate in the latest effort.

"That's crazy," said Mulraine, a 35-year-old real estate agent. "Who's going to be shopping at midnight? That's too early. I'll stick to 5 a.m. That's good enough."

CompUSA was one of the big retailers that opened at midnight last year. K-Mart has opened on Thanksgiving Day for several years and will continue this year. Many retailers that are closed on Thanksgiving will offer specials that day on Internet sites.

Christiana Mall in Delaware, a popular shopping destination for Maryland consumers because of the state's tax-free shopping, will open at 2 a.m. this year. It's the first time the center, off Interstate 95 in Newark, has opened so early.

Wal-Mart was the first major retailer last year to open at 5 a.m., an hour earlier than most of its main competitors. This year, the world's largest retailer has upped the ante even more - it slashed prices on 100 toys last month and 100 electronic items two weeks ago to temper disappointing sales expectations. That could mean shoppers will start buying way before the day after Thanksgiving.

The malls have emerged as the leaders of the midnight openings in the past and now, as they try to recapture some of the spotlight taken by the pre-dawn bargains and door-busters at big-box stores.

Retail analysts said shopping hours aren't as important to consumers as the discounts, deals and the party atmosphere that stores typically offer. Most shoppers are looking for bargains.

"Ultimately what is going to bring customers to the store is not the time of day, it's the deal," said Davis, of the retail trade group. "Consumers have proven they're willing to get out of bed at 4 a.m. for a great bargain."

Mall owners and retail executives who have been experimenting with the early openings during the past several years are pleased with how consumers have responded and have expanded the earlier openings.

General Growth Properties, which owns the majority of the malls in the Baltimore area, first tried midnight openings with one mall in Birmingham, Ala., two years ago. It added three malls last year. This year seven will participate, though none in this area.

"It exceeded our expectations," said Michele Rothstein, a spokeswoman for Chelsea Property Group, which tested the effort in seven markets in 2005 and is expanding it this year. "There were lines outside the door at midnight. It was pretty much a full house."

Some shoppers, however, say they'd rather be in bed than fight the crowds at midnight.

"It's not worth it," said Delores Mason, a 31-year-old researcher from Baltimore.

But Amber Schmale, 21 and a salesperson at a cellular phone store, said midnight shopping is definitely something she'd try.

Schmale, who lives in Baltimore, likes the excitement of shopping the day after Thanksgiving. In previous years, she made it a family affair by mapping out her shopping route with her father and brother the night before.

"Shopping through the night," she said. "That would be neat to do."