Several U.S. Apple Stores will be open on Thanksgiving Day

Apple Store (Stanford 2, North California, exterior 001)

I know it may sound blasphemously to some, but the iPhone maker’s retail army does get to enjoy turkey with their families as Apple Stores typically close for major holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving Day. One notable exception is the flagship glass cube store on Fifth Avenue, open 24/7 every day of the year.

Apple normally allows store employees to spend time with their families on Thanksgiving Day, with some of its retail shrines typically opening as early as 3am on Black Friday. Last year, for example, only the Royal Hawaiian and Las Vegas Forum Shops outlets were open on Thanksgiving, mainly because of tourist who arrived in droves for the start of the holiday shopping season in the United States.

This year will be different. According to a guy who tracks Apple’s retail efforts for a living, a bunch of Apple’s brick-and-mortar Stores in the United States will be open on Thanksgiving Day, a move apparently that in line with Tim Cook’s policy of doubling down on Apple Stores.

UPDATE: Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly cancelled plans to keep additional Apple Stores open on Thanksgiving…

UPDATE: the website says Tim Cook has responded to objections from Market Directors by canceling these plans:

On Wednesday morning over the objections of the Market Directors, Apple CEO Tim Cook learned of the plans to keep several stores open on Thanksgiving, and cancelled the plan. Cook’s objection was specifically that it’s important that Apple retail employees be with their families on the holiday.

The rest of the article follows.

A well-known that specializes in Apple Retail, ifo Apple Store, reports that nearly a dozen stores will be greeting customers on Thanksgivig Day, including locations in Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and Portland.

According to insiders, over the past few years several Apple retail market directors have been advocating for more stores to be open on Thanksgiving, believing the company was missing out on substantial holiday sales. Apparently their viewpoint prevailed this year, and at least 10 stores will be open some portion of Thanksgiving.

Here’s the complete list of stores that’ll open on Thanksgiving Day (more will be added):

• Fifth Avenue (NYC)
• West 14th Street (NYC)
• North Michigan Avenue (Chicago)
• Lincoln Road (Miami Beach)
• San Francisco (Calif.)
• Pioneer Place (Portland, Ore.)
• The Grove (LA)
• Third Street Promenade (Santa Monica)
• Fashion Valley (San Diego)
• Ala Moana (Honolulu

The website notes that employee schedules to cover the holiday shifts were being prepared over the last two days.

Apple will be posting its holiday shopping hours here.

I understand Apple is a money-making machine and that overwhelming demand for its products justifies the move, but don’t condone the practice – it really is not fair to employees to take them away from their loved ones on the holiday. I mean, it’s just obnoxious.

The holidays are supposed to be about family, not sales!

But hey – anything is justifiable to earn a few more bucks, I guess.

Apple Stores typically hold a special one-day shopping event on Black Friday, which falls this year on November 29, to celebrate the official start of the holiday shopping season. Just don’t count on deep Black Friday discounts from Apple. Last year, for example, Apple’s Black Friday sale included a $41 saving on iPad 3, a $31 off of the 32GB iPod touch and so forth.

You get the idea, deal-hunters normally avoid Apple Stores on Black Friday.

Retailers Target, Walmart and Best Buy have already advertised their Black Friday deals on Apple products and I wholeheartedly recommend you check them out.

Pictured top of post: Apple’s new Stanford 2 store in North Carolina.