Walmart To Close For Thanksgiving For The First Time Since The 1980s

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The coronavirus has had a hand in ruining almost everything in 2020 from sports, to employment, to travel, with no signs of normalcy on the agenda for the rest of the year.

While many businesses are suffering, some are flourishing in the face of the pandemic. Walmart, for one, has remained open for the most part, only reducing some of its 24-hour stores to regular operating hours. Even that change is rooted in profit, as the only reason for the change was for the store to stock even more products for the next day. Now, according to reports from Complex, Walmart is finally putting employees first to say thank you for their work during the pandemic and making a historic Thanksgiving day change to help slow the COVID-19.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Walmart will be closing its doors on Thanksgiving—that means NO EARLY BLACK FRIDAY. Walmart typically opens its stores during regular hours on Thanksgiving allows Black Friday sales and doorbusters to kick off in the evening. That is no longer happening.

Walmart made the announcement on Tuesday, which comes as a reaction to the spike in coronavirus cases across the country. Keeping the store open on Thanksgiving could result in large crowds as last-minute shoppers would be searching for items. This would undoubtedly put customers and employees at unnecessary risk of catching the virus.

In addition to employees finally being able to experience Thanksgiving, Walmart is going in their wallet and giving them $428 million in “special bonuses”. The special bonuses will act as hazard pay to say thank you for working during the pandemic. The pay will breakdown hourly workers receiving a $300 bonus while part-time workers will get a $150 bonus. As long as you were hired before July 31st, you’ll receive the bonus on August 20th.