Is it ironic that on this day of thanks, many consumers may be thankful that they can get into stores today?

And what about retailers - will they end up thankful that they pushed prices even lower by pushing the Black Friday frenzy into Thanksgiving?

More stores than I can ever recall are open today, with Old Navy being the indicator for me that retailers aren't content to wait for pre-dawn sales on Black Friday.

I've been thankful many times over the years that I could shop at Meijer in the hours before heading to a relatives' home for dinner, since I've often managed to be out of key ingredients for a dish that I was supposed to be making.

But times have changed:

• Many stores, and not just the outlet malls, are now opening at midnight on Thanksgiving. Like Walmart and Toys R Us. • More stores are dialing up their opening times on Black Friday: 4 a.m. is not unusual this year, thanks to Big Box stores in malling pulling some inline retailers along with them (Bath & Body Works at Briarwood is an example). • And now there's the chance to take advantage of even more sales today, like at Old Navy. Kmart, Meijer

In some U.S. locations, even Gap and Banana Republic are open today.

Here's an article from USA Today that discusses the trend.

And here's an editorial that gives some reasons to hope that it ends.