More businesses are beginning to take an anti-consumerism, anti-Black Friday approach to the holiday shopping frenzy, instead urging customers to enjoy time outside and with their families. But not Kohl’s. No, the major retailer has just announced that it’s extending its store hours up until Christmas Day so that every customer can find time to shop.
Keep in mind, last year the store kept most of its locations open for five straight days before Christmas.
This year, Kohl’s is keeping stores open for 170 hours straight — seven days — so that consumers can drop in anytime between 7 a.m. Dec. 17 to 6 p.m. Dec. 24. According to The Consumerist, this is the third year that Kohl’s has pulled multiple all-nighters to serve last-minute shoppers.
Many people are wondering, though, why is Kohl’s even bothering to do this at all? The stores are having some sales promotions, but they’re not offering rock-bottom sales prices or selling items that can’t be found anywhere else. Plus, the likelihood of getting bursts of customers at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday morning is unlikely — but the company still has to staff its stores fully all night, just in case.
TIME and the Washington Post have speculated that Kohl’s is attempting to compete with online retail giants like Amazon. It’s no secret that online shopping has become widely popular (and even more successful) than in-store sales, and it’s expected that at least 200 million Americans will make at least one purchase online by the end of the year.
Of course, Kohl’s does have an online store, but any avid online shopper already knows that Amazon is the place to go for fast two-day shipping (especially because Prime members get it for free).
According to the management team at Kohl’s, it began seeing an influx of shoppers coming in late at night and coming in at the last possible minute on Christmas Eve, so it decided to take a risk and see if there would be enough last-minute sales to cover the costs of a seven-day shopping bonanza.
It seems to have worked the past two years — but will it work in Kohl’s favor again this year?