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Tuesday


As the holiday shopping season kicks off, Walmart is the latest major retailer to announce an even earlier launch to annual Black Friday weekend sales — beginning at dinnertime Thanksgiving evening.

Following a slew of similar announcements from stores including Target, Best Buy and Macy's, Walmart said Tuesday that it will hold two major sales events at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Thursday, two hours earlier than last year. With this year's six-day shorter holiday shopping season and low rates of consumer confidence following the government shutdown, Walmart is upping its efforts to draw in more customers: offering what experts said were impressive deals and guaranteeing more products to customers in line during the Thursday sales.



 Some exclusive sales will still occur Friday, including an 8 a.m. sales event and "manager's specials" discounts on high-demand items. But this year, many of the best deals occur or begin Thursday, including online shopping bargains that start early Thanksgiving morning.

Stores moving major sales to Thursday is a "big move," said online deal expert Brad Wilson, founder of deal analysis website BradsDeals.com. "We saw even in the last two years, when stores were opening Thursday, they weren't necessarily kicking off their promotions on Thursday — the best deals wouldn't necessarily start at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.," he said. "This really shifts the focus."

As stores stagger sales, the annual mobs of shoppers camped outside stores before dawn on Friday may lessen, analysts said. This year, Toys R Us will open its doors at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving day, Best Buy will open at 6 p.m. and Target will open at 8 p.m. Macy's, J.C. Penney and Kohl's will offer Thursday hours for the first time, and Kmart will open at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning and remain open for 41 hours straight.

Black Friday is becoming more of a "six-day weekend" than a single day, Wilson said. And Walmart's early sale events are an effort to keep up with the competition, said Duncan Mac Naughton, Walmart's chief merchandising and marketing officer.