IL Retailers Closed On Thanksgiving: Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Others

ILLINOIS — The days of working off a calorie-heavy Thanksgiving meal with a few spins around malls and big box stores around Illinois are coming to an end as more national retailers remain dark on the holiday.

Among major retailers that will remain closed on Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, are big box stores like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, and a slew of others that anchor malls and shopping centers, including Macy’s, JC Penney, and Kohl’s.

Below are the major national chains with stores in Illinois that will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, according to BlackFriday.com. It’s a good idea to check local stores for hours this holiday season, because they may vary by location.

• Bed Bath & Beyond
• Best Buy
• Burlington
• Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Hobby Lobby
• Kohl’s
• Lowe’s Home Improvement
• Macy’s
• Marshalls
• Nordstrom/Nordstrom Rack
• Old Navy
• Petco
• Sam’s Club
• Sears/Sears Outlet
• Target
• Ulta Beauty
• Walmart

See the full list of stores closed on Thanksgiving Day on BlackFriday.com.

The holiday shopping season that traditionally started on Black Friday started to creep into Thanksgiving Day about two decades ago as bargain hunters flocked to malls and big box stores in the wee hours of Black Friday morning. At the height of the early morning shopping frenzy about five years ago, 25 or so chain stores opened on Thanksgiving Day, The Associated Press reported.

Stores open on Thanksgiving were criticized both by workers who had to pull themselves away from family and by consumers at large.

When the pandemic came along in 2020, stores had already started to rethink the strategy after finding the early openings had cannibalized Black Friday sales. Many stores also advertised Black Friday deals for an extended period, further diluting the impact of the Thanksgiving hours.

Giving employees, considered essential workers during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a day off with their families generated a “positive response” among both workers and consumers, Kohl’s said in a news release last year.