Community Corner

Poll: Majority of Connecticut Residents Against Thanksgiving Day Shopping

Most Connecticut residents, a new UConn/Courant poll finds, will be content to sleep off the turkey in front of the TV Thursday night instead of seek bargains at the handful of retailers that have rolled Thanksgiving into their Black Friday hours.

Are stores that plan to open on Thanksgiving just being savvy and responding to customer demand, or are they despicable for trampling on Thanksgiving tradition and contributing to the downfall of American culture?

OK, well, maybe there's some gray area there. But a new UConn/Hartford Courant poll found that a majority of Connecticut poll respondents — 55 percent — disapproved of stores opening on Thanksgiving. About 12 percent of state residents saw no problem with the practice. 

Just five percent of Connecticut residents said they planned on shopping on Thursday, slightly below the 7 percent of national respondents. However, 19 percent of Connecticut respondents said they would shop on Friday (27 percent nationally).

The debate over whether to extend Black Friday back into Thursday has been a heated one. Many large retailers, such as Macy's and Wal-Mart, defended their decisions to open on Thanksgiving Day. Other retailers, though, such as Costco and Nordstrom, staunchly refused.

"We think it's really disrespectful to employees and families and really the United States of America," said Gregg Richard, the president and CEO of electronics retailer P.C. Richard & Son, in a Courant article published Wednesday.

The poll included responses from 534 Connecticut residents and 1,187 residents from across the country, and had a margin of error of +/— 4 percent.

Find out what's happening in Wallingfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here