Macy's is holding firm with its decision to open on Thanksgiving Day, and is expected to greet shoppers an hour earlier than it did in 2015.
BestBlackFriday.com, which tracks retailers' holiday deals and hours, received confirmation from five U.S. shopping centers that their Macy's locations would open at 5 p.m. Thursday. That compares with 6 p.m. in both 2014 and 2015.
A spokeswoman for Macy's did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. She said last week that the company would not announce its Black Friday hours until later this month.
Retailers have been kicking off their holiday sales earlier in recent years, as they try to get an edge on the competition. Macy's opened for the first time on Thanksgiving in 2013, at 8 p.m. J.C. Penney and Kohl's, among others, followed suit.
But the tide looked like it was beginning to turn this year, after several retailers and major mall operators said they would once again close their doors for the holiday. That includes the Mall of America, in Minnesota, and Tennessee-based CBL & Associates, which is shuttering 73 of its properties until 6 a.m. Black Friday.
"We think that for our employees and for the store employees, they deserve the day off and to be able to spend the day with their families," CBL CEO Stephen Lebovitz told CNBC last week about the company's decision.
He added that Thanksgiving Day openings were not accretive to sales, and simply spread them out.
The following five shopping centers confirmed Macy's Thanksgiving hours to BestBlackFriday.com via phone and email. (Copies of the first two centers' emailed responses were shared with CNBC):
Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, Hawaii: 5 p.m. Thanksgiving to 10 p.m. Black Friday
Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale, Arizona: 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Black Friday
Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, New Jersey: 5 p.m. Thanksgiving to 10 p.m. Black Friday
Moorestown Mall in Moorestown, New Jersey: 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Black Friday
Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware: 5 p.m. Thanksgiving to 10 p.m. Black Friday