Our annual Black Friday issue of this newsletter is one of the most popular things we do each year. Since 2007, all four partners have gone out to report “man on the street ” coverage of what Black Friday shopping looks like in their respective part of America. And when we attend industry events throughout the year, people constantly tell us how much they enjoy it.

But this is the last time we’ll do it.

It’s not that RSR – or this newsletter – is going anywhere. It’s really our statement: we simply can no longer support a holiday that a) in our view doesn’t make any business sense at all and b) takes a lot of the cheer out of the holiday season (ever seen this Black Friday death count site?)

In fact, Black Friday has changed to the point of being unrecognizable from what it was just 7 years ago when we started. To prove it, this year I decided to conduct a little experiment. I headed out at 1pm on Black Friday to two very different locations: a Target in Everett, Massachusetts, and the not-so-nearby Natick mall.

At a little before 1 PM on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Target looked less busy than it would on a Tuesday afternoon in February. The store had been decimated: the deals were long gone, and so were the people. As all of my partners and I have described in recent years: this store traded its Friday morning/daytime traffic (and revenue) for Thursday night traffic. But make no mistake: just because they added tremendous overhead costs in having their stores open during odd hours (workforce, electricity, HVAC, etc.) doesn’t mean they got to close their doors early on Friday. On the contrary – all they’d done is add expense. This is our main gripe with the massive push to open earlier and earlier – well into Thanksgiving day: it doesn’t even make good business sense. You’re not netting new business, you’re just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

But then I drove out to Natick, where not only can shoppers browse Barney’s and Tourneau for $25,000 watches, but they can also purchase a $90,000 Tesla Model S. It’s a mall that has valet parking: we’re talking about an entirely different kind of shopper. And it took me 15 minutes to get off the highway’s exit to even get close to the mall itself. I drove around for another 30 minutes looking for parking, and even then – it wasn’t happening. Which brings us to our other, non-business gripe: Thanksgiving is rapidly becoming a holiday for people who can afford it.

All of the people at the Natick Mall got to have Thanksgiving. They’re a different “class ” of American, and they had the option to enjoy our most universal holiday however they wanted. By comparison, the people lining up for deals on basic appliances in the freezing cold because it’s the one day of the year they can actually afford basic household goods – they don’t get that choice. I wrote about this last year when I visited a Walmart on Thanksgiving night at 9:30pm and spoke to a family huddled in blankets waiting for the 1am opening:

(Their) teenaged son… let me know that they’d been there since 7am. They missed their entire Thanksgiving. For what? ‘The great deal on the fireplace.’

Now I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think many teenage boys ask for a fireplace for Christmas. If I had to guess, it would be that these people were well below the poverty line and this fireplace was going to be a source of warmth for them this New England winter; it was going to be in use well before December 25^th. And this was the best deal they were going to get on it this year, and they knew it. Which means they missed Thanksgiving; I’m betting a lot of economically challenged people did. Now you can tell me that I’m making too many assumptions, but all I know is if that you had been there with me, you would have agreed that it didn’t seem particularly holiday cheery.

Now, as you’ll see in this year’s coverage, the RSR partners are at a complete loss for how this ever changes. Retailers have conditioned shoppers for madness and deals, and by continuing to show up (whether by necessity or by choice – let’s face it, some people can afford to have Thanksgiving and just choose to go deal hunting instead), consumers have given them permission to keep doing it. So we’re not naïve enough to think we’ll change anyone’s mind here about being open next year on Thanksgiving.

But even still, if only for this last reason alone, our coverage of this event is done; Thanksgiving openings rob millions of retail employees of the right to a Thanksgiving holiday. Again, these aren’t wealthy people. In a lot of cases, they’re downright struggling to get by. And we know exactly who they are, because every one of us here at RSR comes from retail. These people deserve a day of thanks with those that matter most.

So we hope you enjoy this issue, and we’ll return next week with our regular newsletter. Happy Holidays everyone!