Albertville Premium Outlet Employees, Families Pen Petition against Expanded Hours

The Albertville Premium Outlets, managed by Simon Properties, announced its expanded holiday hours recently with a couple of eye-catching changes.

First, many of the outlet mall’s 100-plus stores will be opening before 8 p.m.

Then, on Christmas Eve, a night where, traditionally, employers have allowed mall workers to get home to their families around dinnertime, the mall will remain open until 8 p.m.

That’s led to more than a dozen petitions on Change.org, according to a website spokesperson, asking Simon Properties to at least reconsider their closing hours on Christmas Eve. Some are also asking to move Black Friday sales back to, well, Friday at midnight, as it was for many years after the mall opened more than a decade ago.

“I want time to spend with my family. I’m a college student who rarely gets to see his family in the first place. Black Friday basically takes away our Thanksgiving, let me have most of my Christmas,” said Alex Johnson, a mall employee.

On one petition, posted to the site by a mall employee known on Change.org as Caroline Olivia of Hanover, a simple move to close the mall two hours earlier, at 6 p.m., would save her many troubles on Christmas Eve.

“As a retailer and a daughter, I cherish the excitement of both Christmas shopping and Christmas Eve night. The former closing time of 6 p.m. felt like a fair enough compromise. However, forcing stores to remain open until 8 p.m. is exploitative,” Olivia writes.

Simon is hardly alone. Best Buy announced it will open at 6 p.m., and Toys R Us at 5 p.m., on Thanksgiving day. And Minnesota-based Target Corp. is allowing stores to stay open until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., depending on store location, on Christmas Eve.

Still resistance is coming, even from employees' family members. 

“My daughter works at Albertville Mall and I am supporting her to be with our granddaughters," wrote Lee Munnich on the Change.org site.  

Patch users seem to agree. On an article posted last week announcing Albertville Premium Outlet mall hours for the holiday season, many took to Facebook and spoke against the expanded hours into Thanksgiving night.

“This is just greed,” said one poster.

“And another holiday ruined by the retail industry. I feel sorry for anyone that has to work that day!” posted another.

Olivia states the expanded hours are mostly due to the shortened season – just 26 days to shop between Thanksgiving night to Christmas Eve this year, vs. 32 last year. However, she writes. Greed may be a part of the equation.

“If a shopper absolutely must purchase a gift that late, they are not going to an outlet mall. They will be at a gas station, picking up gas cards or going online to print out gift vouchers,” she adds. And, “Any sales lost due to a shorter holiday shopping season will not magically be made up in the two extra hours. Chances are shoppers will already be occupied spending Christmas Eve with family. A possible ‘make up’ in sales is not going to happen and does not justify cutting into a traditional Christmas Eve.”

Patch is reaching out to both Simon Properties and Change.org for further comments on the petitions.

But where do you stand? Tell us in the comment area below!