If holiday gift-buying season had an official starting bell, it would ring this week – on Thursday evening, not long after many families finish Thanksgiving dinner. That's when Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart and Toys R Us open with big discount promotions at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. Others wait for early Friday, the traditional launch of Black Friday sales. (That name refers to retailers' hopes that a surge in business will put them "in the black" profit-wise, as opposed to recording losses in red ink.)

The creep of post-holiday sales into Thanksgiving Day means some retail employees have to work on a national holiday when families gather. It also means some eager bargain-hunters are tempted to cut the holiday short. "Target and other retailers have done something they have never done before in opening on Thanksgiving," says Casey St. Clair, a part-time Target worker from Corona, Calif. "My anger is aimed at the loss of a day that, up until now, was considered important enough for only the most essential services to be open."

Store executives say employees welcome a chance for extra pay at a higher rate. "Efforts are being made to staff holiday hours on a volunteer basis," says Erika Winkels, a Target representative. Some shoppers also like the idea. "There are lots of consumers who love these sales and they are going to show up whenever the sales begin," says Steve Posavac, a marketing professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. The big chains want to offer early bargains to compete with online rivals that let shoppers buy anytime. Still, a consumer backlash surfaces in e-petitions against early sales. “It takes away from what the holiday is about,” says Laura Stansberry of West Nashville, Tenn. “They don’t need to open that early. The consumer is going to come to you, no matter when you open.”

Early-open backer says: "I'd rather shop at 9 p.m. than 3 a.m. [Friday]. It's not realistic for the holiday to be sacrosanct." – Wendy Marson, River Falls, Wis.

Critic says: "This is an intrusion on what should be a time for families to be together and give thanks." -- Rachelle Dahl, Lakeville, Minn.

Retail analyst says: "Wal-Mart and Target will continue to play a competitive game of who can open the earliest. Maybe it will be 4 p.m. in 2013 and noon in 2014." -- Burt Flickinger, president at Strategic Resource Group, New York City