Macy’s to start Black Friday early, shutter stores on Thanksgiving

Macy’s will start its Black Friday holiday promotion well before Thanksgiving weekend, and is closing stores on Thanksgiving Day.

The department store chain will launch an exclusive Black Friday ‘Sneak Peek’ event on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The retailer will update holiday deals with items priced as low as $3 across categories including fashion, fine jewelry, tech, beauty, toys, and home. All Black Friday special offers will be available via Macy’s website, mobile app, and stores from Tuesday, Nov. 23 – Saturday, Nov. 27.

Macy’s will close all stores on Thanksgiving Day, with curbside pickup available at select stores, and Black Friday deals available all day Thanksgiving on macys.com and the Macy’s app. Stores will re-open on Friday, Nov. 26. Following are Macy’s holiday store hours during its Black Friday promotion Thanksgiving week:

• Tuesday, November 23 – 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 24 – 10 a.m. – 11 p.m.
• Thursday, November 25 – Closed in observance of Thanksgiving Day
• Friday, November 26 – 6 a.m. – 11:59 p.m.
• Saturday, November 27 – 9 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Although Macy’s will not begin its official holiday discount promotion until Nov. 3, the company has already been busy preparing other holiday offerings for its customers. These include the return of in-person visits with Santa Claus in Macy’s Santaland, which will open for in-store visits at Macy’s on State Street in Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 6, and at Macy’s Herald Square in New York and Union Square in San Francisco on Friday, Nov. 26.

An advance reservation will be required to visit the winter wonderland. During 2020, Macy’s Santaland available only as a virtual experience that was called Santaland At Home. The digital experience will be available again this year, but with all-new programming,

In addition, Macy’s is expanding its digital offerings in time for the holiday shopping season. The department store giant is offering a redesigned mobile app, livestream shopping, contactless payment, and an expanded 3-D room planner in time for the holiday season.

The Macy’s app, which enables customers to curate products, navigate stores, shop and check out, and manage rewards and account details, now lets users with location services seamlessly customize their shopping experience to their local Macy’s store. This includes immediate access to price check and store maps features, along with product availability, buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), and curbside pickup.

The retailer is also rolling out Macy’s Live, a livestream shopping experience featuring weekly live shopping events. Customers will be able to interact with hosts and Macy’s stylists via chat, view featured products in more detail, obtain real-time reviews and recommendations, and interactively shop for items.

In addition, Macy’s is adding PayPal and Venmo as contactless in-store payment options. All Macy’s stores nationwide are now enabled to accept these two contactless payment options.

In other moves, Macy’s is expanding its 3D room planning service, based on Marxent technology. The 3D room planner, available online and in-store, allows customers to virtually see their preferred furniture and home furnishings in a custom-built room created to mirror their exact living space.

Other holiday shopping features at Macy’s include an online fragrance finder tool that provides an immersive, visual experience and enables customers to curate a personal pool of fragrance recommendations based on their preferences and desired scent profiles; as well as a one-stop online sustainability shop featuring a range of products that have been independently certified as responsibly made or packaged.

“We’re thrilled to bring the convenience and flexibility of shopping in stores, online and through our app to our customers during Black Friday at Macy’s once again this year,” said Nata Dvir, Macy’s chief merchandising officer. “Macy’s is sharing our biggest holiday specials online and in stores throughout the month of November, giving our customers the ability to plan ahead and shop gifts for themselves or someone special, from their favorite brands that have been on their wish list all year long.”