Walmart to Let Customers Stay Inside Stores Overnight For Black Friday
Bloombergreports that Walmart plans to leave many of its stores open after the 11pm closing time on Black Friday eve. This way customers will already be inside when Black Friday begins at 5 a.m. It is an attempt by Walmart to avoid a repeat of last year's unnecessary death of a Walmart employee.
Most of those stores will remain open after their regular closing hour of 11 p.m., allowing customers to remain inside to wait for the "Black Friday" special prices that start at 5 a.m., David Tovar, a company spokesman, said today in a telephone interview.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, developed plans for each of its stores to manage the flow of customers as they get in, seek discounted merchandise, check out and leave on "Black Friday." The store in Valley Stream, New York, where Jdimytai Damour, a temporary worker, was trampled on Nov. 28, 2008, is among those staying open overnight, Tovar said.
"We would anticipate not having these long lines outside the stores," Tovar said from Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart is based. The company's 2,705 supercenters, which sell general merchandise and groceries, already operate 24 hours a day.
Walmart had promised safety improvements following last year's tragedy. This plan should keep people from lining up outside Walmart supercenters early in the morning. However, Walmart will still have to keep enough employees inside its store to maintain crowd control. It is a long time to keep people waiting inside your store.
Black Friday is on Friday, November 27th so people who want to be first at Walmart for Black Friday deals will need to arrive at the store late on Thursday, November 26th.
Bloomberg 
