NEW YORK — Kohl’s is taking last-minute Christmas shopping seriously.
It has announced plans to keep its 1,100 department stores open around the clock for the five days leading up to Christmas. That’s 132 hours of shopping between 6 a.m. on Dec. 19 and 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
That period includes the crucial final weekend before Christmas, which is poised to be the busiest shopping day of the season. The retail analytics firm Shoppertrak says that Saturday — dubbed by some as Super Saturday — could regain that title for the first time in a decade.
It’s also a window when Christmas purchases are best made in person rather than online. For the dangers of last-minute online shopping, look no further than last year’s fiasco when Amazon and UPS missed Christmas deliveries.
Retailers have been rewarded for taking risks like throwing open their doors earlier and longer. While experts say sales slumped on Black Friday, stores that opened on Thanksgiving even saw sales climb. Overall, retail traffic was up 5.4% from 2013 for the month of November, according to Shoppertrak.
Kohl’s also stayed open around-the-clock for several days before Christmas last year.
