'We're open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, which is where I draw the line,' says Santo Napoli, owner of The Archive and New York Urban in Allentown.
Santo Napoli will be at home enjoying food and family on Thanksgiving Day. So will his employees.
Both of his Allentown clothing stores, The Archive and New York Urban, will be closed on the national holiday.
Napoli is among local small-business owners who believe big retailers that host Thanksgiving Day sales are going too far in their quest for consumers' dollars.
"We're open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, which is where I draw the line," he said. "'Midnight Madness' is never going to happen here."
The Lehigh Valley Mall, Outlets at Sands Bethlehem and a host of big-box chains, including Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart, are just some of the region's stores that will be open Thursday.
Other city business owners agree with Napoli, said Allentown Hamilton District Main Street Program manager Meg DeJesus.
"Some of the retailers that I've spoken to are bothered by what the larger retailers are doing on a national level," she said, adding that none of them are interested in adopting the same practices.
Banking on arena
In fact, only a handful of Center City Allentown stores will open early Black Friday, DeJesus said. Some merchants have expressed interest in a Small Business Saturday initiative for 2014, she said, noting that by this time next year, the Allentown hockey arena will be occupied and there will be more Hamilton District retailers.
"A lot of change is taking place," DeJesus said. "I know that next year will be a very different ballgame."
The trend toward opening on Thanksgiving Day doesn't phase Faith Proctor, who owns Madame Mim's, a new age gift shop and holistic learning center in Downtown Easton.
"I think that people who care about their fellow human beings would rather see those folks home with their families and eating and not shopping," she said.
Proctor said businesses don't have to sacrifice their employees' happiness and well-being to succeed. Big retailers, she said, have lost sight of the big picture.
"What comes around goes around," Proctor said. "I'm not out to compete with them. They have no thought for their employees, which is a darn shame."
Madame Mim's is opening in the afternoon Black Friday, which is when she plans to unveil the new storefront window display her daughter designed. The Easton Peace Candle lighting that night will draw plenty of foot traffic and, hopefully, customers, Proctor said.
"We can do things right. We can treat our employees and customers with dignity and still be profitable and have abundance," she said.
Retail's 'sacred days'
Napoli said he thinks Thanksgiving Day sales have the potential to cannibalize Black Friday sales. They also undermine efforts to get consumers pumped up about retailers' best deals of the year, he said.
"People aren't going to spend double the money," Napoli said. "If you get them on Thursday, you're not getting them on Friday."
Alison Miers, Easton and Phillipsburg Initiatives vice president for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said small-business owners and their staffs routinely do more with less.
Preparing for Black Friday is a big job for them, which is part of the reason opening on Thanksgiving Day isn't appealing, she said.
"That's the one day they're able to gather themselves for what's to come," Miers said.
There are three "sacred days" that no retailer should require employees to work, Napoli said. One of them is Thanksgiving; the other two are Easter and Christmas.
Ten years ago, he would have laughed if someone suggested he keep Thanksgiving Day hours. Now, the practice is becoming standard.
"It's unfortunate that big stores have decided this is something they want to pursue. Obviously, that's their prerogative," Napoli said. "Today, it's Black Friday. Five years from now, it's going to be Black Wednesday."
Contact Lehigh County suburbs reporter Precious Petty at 484-894-3854 or ppetty@express-times.com.