NEW YORK (AP) — Target will no longer open its stores on Thanksgiving Day, making permanent a shift to the unofficial start of the holiday season that was suspended during the pandemic.

He believes retailers are also looking at whether it’s worth spending money on labor and other costs to open on Thanksgiving when shoppers are turning more to online shopping and away from physical stores.

The holiday shopping season started to creep into Thanksgiving Day 20 years ago when retailers began kicking off sales into the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday.

Ten years later, Target and other major stores opened their doors on the holiday itself, creating a new shopping tradition.

That whittled the number of stores open on the holiday down to well under 20 major chains, excluding pharmacies and grocers that remain open for a least for a few hours.

For the past two years, the holiday trailed only Cyber Monday and Black Friday in online sales, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index