Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has updated its Christmas Eve hours for 2016.
The company announced that its employees will have the opportunity to begin their festivities earlier than usual this year. The move follows criticism from workers and customers that the company opens early on Thanksgiving Day in order to kick off Black Friday shopping sooner.
“Our associates work hard all year to make this holiday season special for our customers, and we appreciate what they do every day,” said Judith McKenna, chief operating officer, Walmart U.S. “We also know that getting home on Christmas Eve to spend time with families is important.”
The store will close at 6 p.m. Friday. Walmart Christmas Eve hours ending at an earlier time than usual shows that the retailer has committed to respecting the need to be with family that many of its workers will be experiencing this year in the holiday season.
Walmart has increased efforts to ensure that its workers get what they need out of the company in order to be in a better position economically. The company will retain workers, raise wages and give more hours to workers–the retailer has more than 1 million employees.
Shopping on Christmas Eve will be especially busy as there will be a lot of people picking up items through the company’s pick-up service. Some estimate that tomorrow’s figure will be about 10 times bigger than on an ordinary day.
WMT stock fell 0.1% Friday.
