Mall owner Simon Property Group is closing their store on Thanksgiving.

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But this year’s biggest shopping mall and outlet center in the United States won’t be experiencing the Thanksgiving discount shopping craze.

Mall owner Simon Real Estate Group (Artillery) On Monday, the location is closed for Thanksgiving, but said it will open on Black Friday the next day.

“In these difficult times, we decided to leave our doors open on Thanksgiving and allow our employees to spend holidays with loved ones,” said David Simon, CEO of the company, in a statement.

This announcement marks a major shift in strategy for the biggest shopping weekend of the year. More stores open on Thanksgiving Cyber Monday and promotions extending through December. Simon is the largest shopping mall operator in the United States.

Many experts Expect such a change This year is thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Scott Rankin, president of KPMG US and national consumer and retail strategy leader, told CNN Business in July that “There will be no Black Friday at all because everything is going on.” “I can’t imagine a retailer buying stock to get stock for an event designed to bring hundreds of people to the store. There’s a lot of risk here.”

Simon’s decision may also reflect the fact that even before the pandemic, consumers increasingly chose to shop online for Thanksgiving and Black Friday merchandise instead of franticly jumping out of stores. Last year’s Thanksgiving online sales hit an all-time high of $4.2 billion.