Black Friday Midnight Madness: Target, Macy’s to Open 12:00 a.m. after Thanksgiving

Black Friday will be starting earlier this year.

Both Macy's and Target have announced that their doors will open at midnight after Thanksgiving.

When the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. on Friday Nov. 25, the Black Friday madness will begin.

The Wall Street Journal reports that this is Macy's earliest start time on the highly influential sales day.

Macy's will open the doors of more than 800 stores around the country during the wee hour on Nov. 25.

This year, in response to our customers' eagerness to shop early for great deals, Macy's stores across the country will open for the first time at midnight following Thanksgiving, giving customers the opportunity to get a head start on our extraordinary Black Friday deals, Macy's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren said in a statement, reported by MSNBC.

Macy's will stay open for 23 hours and close at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 25.

Last year, Macy's only opened eight stores at midnight.

But with the current unstable economic climate, stores are planning ahead for Black Friday sales and hoping that an early start will allow them to capitalize on increased consumer spending.

In past years, stores typically kept their discounts and hours hush-hush until a few days before Thanksgiving weekend.

This year, they are giving detailed time tables to shoppers who want to map out their bargain-hunting expeditions early.

Target announced that it will also open its doors at 12:00 a.m. and stay open for 23 hours.

Last year, Target opened at 4:00 a.m.

Mobs of people waited in line outside the store and injuries were reported after some shoppers were trampled in the crowd.

Black Friday is traditionally one of the biggest, most anticipated shopping days of the year as it marks the start of the holiday shopping season.

Alluring discounts attract hoards of consumers to stores each year.

On Black Friday 2010, retail spending hit $10.69 billion in one day.

Reuters reported that consumer spending rose 0.6 percent for the month of September, according to Commerce Department data.

Consumers are really walking a tight rope here. They don't have much room and it's easy for them to lose balance with very modest shifts in hiring, the cost of food and everything, said Steve Blitz, senior economist, ITG Investment Research in New York.

In contrast, saving decreased to an annual rate of $419.8 billion, which is the lowest level since Aug. 2009.

Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.