Wait. Stop.
Before you grab your car keys and head out, thinking you’ll score a head start on doorbusters, you need to know that the retail landscape has shifted. Drastically. If you're looking for a mall open on thanksgiving, the answer isn't as simple as a "yes" or "no" anymore. It's a complicated mess of corporate social responsibility, labor shortages, and a massive pivot toward e-commerce that started around 2020 and never really looked back.
Honestly, it used to be a given. You’d finish the turkey, argue with your uncle about the football game, and then pile into the minivan to stand in a freezing line at the local shopping center. It was a ritual. Now? It’s a ghost town.
The Great Retail Retreat
Most major landlords like Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, and Macerich have fundamentally changed their tune. For a solid decade, the "Gray Thursday" trend saw malls opening their doors as early as 5:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day. Retailers thought they were being clever. They weren't. They were just pulling Friday's sales forward and burning out their staff in the process.
Then 2020 happened.
The pandemic gave big-box stores the perfect "out" to stop a practice that was already becoming a logistical nightmare. Walmart was one of the first to announce they’d stay shut, and Target followed suit, eventually making the closure permanent. When the anchors stay home, the mall usually follows.
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If you go to a mall open on thanksgiving today, you’re likely looking at a very specific subset of the industry. We’re talking about high-traffic tourist destinations or malls with "exterior-facing" tenants like movie theaters and high-end restaurants.
Why the lights are mostly off
It’s about the bottom line, obviously. Keeping a 1.5 million-square-foot facility running—HVAC, security, janitorial services—costs a fortune. If the flagship stores like Macy's or Nordstrom aren't opening their interior gates, the mall management can't justify the overhead.
Plus, the PR hit is real.
Public sentiment swung hard toward "letting workers stay with their families." Companies realized that being the "greedy" one open on a national holiday wasn't the flex they thought it was. It’s also a labor issue. Finding people willing to work a holiday shift when unemployment is low is basically impossible without paying triple time, which eats every cent of profit from those discounted air fryers.
Where you might actually find doors unlocked
Okay, so who is still doing it?
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You’ll generally find that "lifestyle centers" or outdoor malls stay "open" in a technical sense. Since they don't have a single locked front door, the common areas stay accessible. You can walk the property. You just can’t go inside 90% of the stores.
- The Tourist Exception: Places like the American Dream mall in New Jersey or certain centers in Las Vegas and Orlando often keep some operations running. These aren't just malls; they're "entertainment destinations." If there’s a theme park or a massive aquarium attached, they aren't going to turn off the lights just because there’s a turkey on someone's table.
- The Movie Theater Loophole: Many malls have a Cinemark, AMC, or Regal. These almost always stay open. You’ll see a side entrance unlocked for moviegoers, but security guards will usually block the hallways leading to the actual retail wings.
- Dining Destinations: If the mall has a Cheesecake Factory or a Maggiano's with an outside entrance, they might be serving Thanksgiving dinner. But don't expect to go buy a pair of jeans afterward.
The Shift to "Digital Thanksgiving"
Let's be real for a second. The reason you want a mall open on thanksgiving is usually the deals. But the deals have moved.
Adobe Analytics has shown year-over-year that Thanksgiving Day is now one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. Retailers realized they can capture your "bored on the couch" energy without paying a single cashier. They drop the "early access" codes at 6:00 PM, and you shop from your phone while eating a second slice of pie.
It’s more efficient. It’s cheaper. And it doesn't require a police presence to manage a crowd of three hundred people fighting over a $199 television.
What to check before you leave the house
Don't trust the hours you see on a random Google Maps listing. Those are often "standard hours" that haven't been updated for the holiday.
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- Check the individual store, not the mall. If you really need something from Best Buy, check their corporate site. If the anchors are closed, the mall is effectively a hallway to nowhere.
- Look for "Department Store" hours. Macy’s, JCPenney, and Belk are the barometers. If they aren't opening until 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM on Friday, the mall interior is almost certainly locked tight on Thursday.
- The "Exterior Entrance" Rule. If the store you want to visit doesn't have a door that leads directly to the parking lot, your chances of it being open are near zero.
The outliers and the rebels
There are always a few. Some outlet malls—especially those owned by Tanger or Simon Premium Outlets—used to stay open all night. They’d do a "Midnight Madness" event. While many have scaled back to a 6:00 AM Friday start, a few still experiment with late-night Thursday openings in high-density areas.
But even these are fading. The data shows that shoppers are tired. Employees are tired. Even the "thrill of the hunt" has been diluted by "Black Friday Month" sales that start in late October.
Practical Steps for the Holiday Weekend
If you were planning to visit a mall open on thanksgiving, pivot your strategy now to avoid a wasted trip and a very lonely parking lot experience.
- Download the Mall's Specific App: Most major centers (Simon, Westfield) update their holiday hours in their proprietary apps about two weeks before the holiday. This is the only "source of truth" you should trust.
- Call the Concierge: If it's a high-end mall, call the guest services desk on the Wednesday before. Ask specifically if the interior corridors are open or just the restaurants.
- Focus on Friday: If you want the physical shopping experience, Friday is still the king. Most malls will open at the crack of dawn—think 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM.
- Shop Online Early: Most "Thanksgiving Day" doorbusters are actually live on the Wednesday night before the holiday. You can usually secure the inventory for "in-store pickup" on Friday, giving you the best of both worlds.
The era of the mall open on thanksgiving is largely a relic of the 2010s. It was a weird, frantic chapter in American consumerism that didn't quite stick because, frankly, it was exhausting for everyone involved. Today, the holiday is back to being about food and rest, while the shopping remains a digital-first affair until the sun comes up on Friday morning. Stick to the couch on Thursday; the mall will still be there tomorrow.
Actionable Insights:
- Confirm Anchor Status: Check the websites of the mall's two largest stores (e.g., Target, Macy's). If both are closed, the mall is 99% likely to be closed.
- Verify "Entertainment" Hours: If you are going for a movie or meal, use the specific restaurant or theater entrance, as main mall gates will be shuttered.
- Check the "Holiday Hours" Tab: National mall chains usually post a PDF of holiday-specific hours on their "Center Information" page by November 15th.
- Set Online Alerts: Use browser extensions to track prices on Thursday so you can buy from your phone the second the digital doors open, saving you the drive entirely.