NEW YORK, USA — The start of the American holiday shopping season, known as Black Friday, typically begins with stores opening in the wee hours of the morning on the day after the Thanksgiving harvest holiday. But Black Friday, named for the period when stores traditionally turn a profit for the year, has crept earlier and earlier into Thanksgiving over the past few years, and some critics say a holiday that is supposed to bring families together is losing out to mass consumerism.

Stores from Wal-Mart to Toys R Us are now opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their turkey and pumpkin pie.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc was scheduled to have early bird shopping specials at 8 pm yesterday, two hours earlier than a year ago. Target Corp prepared to open its doors at 9 pm on the holiday, three hours earlier than last year. Sears, which didn’t open on Thanksgiving last year, planned to open from 8 pm and will stay open until 10 pm on Black Friday. And Toys R Us said it would be opening at 8 pm, an hour earlier than last year.

It’s an effort by stores to make shopping more convenient for Americans, who still face economic uncertainty. Many shoppers are worried about high unemployment and a looming package of automatic tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff” that will take effect in January unless Congress passes a budget deal by then. At the same time, Americans have grown more comfortable shopping on websites such as Amazon.com, where they can get cheaper prices and buy from the comfort of their home or office cubicle.

That has put pressure on brick-and-mortar stores, who can make up to 40 per cent of their annual revenue during the two-month holiday shopping season, to compete. That’s becoming more difficult: the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group, estimates that overall sales in November and December will rise 4.1 per cent this year to US$586.1 billion, or about flat with last year’s growth. But the online part of that is expected to rise 15 per cent to US$68.4 billion, according to Forrester Research.

As a result, brick-and-mortar retailers are trying everything they can to lure consumers into stores by making shopping as easy as possible. In addition to expanding their hours into Thanksgiving, many are offering free layaways and shipping, matching the cheaper prices of online rivals and updating their mobile shopping apps with more information.

—AP