Wal-Mart plans to open most of its stores well before dawn — in fact, at midnight — the day after Thanksgiving, the company announced Monday, becoming the latest in a series of retailers to expand hours to lure in shoppers who want to get a head-start hunting for holiday bargains.
The world's largest retailer also is offering shoppers a sneak preview of the discounts it has planned on items from laptops to jeans.
As of Oct. 31, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. operated 3,792 Walmart stores, of which 2,882 are supercenters that are typically open around the clock and will be open all day on Thanksgiving as well.
The remaining Walmarts used to open at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving.
Starting at midnight, all Walmarts will offer discounts including $9 Wrangler jeans and $15 tubs of Legos. Starting at 5 a.m. Friday, among the deals on electronics, Hewlett-Packard Co. laptops with 15.6-inch screens will be $298, Emerson 32-inch LCD HDTV TVs will go for $198 and there will be Kodak digital cameras for $59.
Sears Holdings Corp., which operates Kmart and Sears stores, said recently that Sears stores will open on Thanksgiving for the first time.
Toys R Us announced last week that it will open its stores at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and stay open through Friday.