Macy’s to open earlier on Black Friday

Macy’s will fling open its doors to holiday shoppers earlier than its traditional 4 a.m. start on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the company announced on Monday.

All 810 Macy's stores will open at midnight on Thursday, except for about 20 stores in locations where state or local laws prevent it, Marketwatch reports.

Macy’s is not the only retailer seeking to extend the first shopping day after Thanksgiving. Last week, Target Corp. said it would also open at midnight on Thanksgiving night, Marketwatch reports.

This holiday season, retailers are looking for every edge, the New York Daily News reports. The National Retail Federation predicts only a modest sales gain of 2.8 percent over last year, according to the New York Daily News.

"In dollars and cents, it probably gives the retailers that are opening extra early another fraction of a day's sales," Scott Rothbort, finance professor at Seton Hall's Stillman School of Business, told Marketwatch. "But it does engender publicity and in this environment that is very valuable."

Mike Gatti, the executive direction of the National Retail Federation's marketing division, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that extended Black Friday hours make sense. "People spend Thanksgiving Day together and by the time dinner's over and they're on that turkey high, most are already shopping online anyway," he said.