McDonald’s plans to stay open on Christmas Day

McDonald’s is telling franchisees to open this year on Christmas Day. That news comes from an internal memo leaked to Advertising Age magazine. Turns out deciding to open on Thanksgiving this year gave a nice boost to McDonald’s sales, and they’d love a repeat performance.

The strategy can be seen in places beyond McDonald’s, as retailers try to wring as much from holiday consumers and employees as they possibly can.

“Retailers are always out to extract as many of your dollars as possible,” says Juli Niemann, analyst with Smith Moore and Company.

On Thanksgiving, retailers were able to rake in the money with big doorbuster sales, she adds — and it worked.

“Now Christmas, which is the last taboo, is being broken,” she says. “At McDonald’s, holidays are being presented as ‘work opportunity days.'”