America’s Largest Shopping Mall Will be Closed This Thanksgiving

via Twitter

While every year around the holidays right-wing political pundits start screaming about the war on Christmas, there’s never any evidence of it in America’s shopping malls. These days, the first sign of mistletoe crops up in departments stores in September and Black Friday sales are now commonplace on Thanksgiving. This trend has ruined Thanksgiving for retail workers across the country and made crass holiday consumerism even more off-putting. But this year, America’s biggest shopping mall is taking a stand against holiday creep by announcing it will be closed on Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday, Bloomington, Minnesota’s Mall of America announced it will be closed on Thanksgiving in order to “Give this day back to our 15,000 employees and their families.” This announcement bucked a three-year trend for the massive retail complex. It first opened on Thanksgiving at 8 pm in 2013, and has opened at 6 pm (right in the middle of turkey dinner!) for the past two years.

Mall of America isn’t the only retail establishment to draw a line in the snow this holiday season. Costco, Petco, Lowes, T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom, Pier 1 Imports, and GameStop have announced they will be closed on Thanksgiving as well. But for those who are totally fine with missing turkey and pie with the family in favor of getting beat up over a $14 toaster, don’t worry. Wal-Mart will still be open for business this Thanksgiving.