Shopping on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  While I was growing up, the thing my family did was eat all we could eat on Thanksgiving, and head out to the shops on Friday.  It used to be that shopping centers were closed on Thanksgiving because no one ever said they would rather spend more time with their families.  

Technology has evolved to keep up with the economy demand and I can recall many thanksgivings where I worked retail right after a full dinner at about 2 pm.  Add in the sleepy tryptophan and wine to make one woozy sales associate for Michaels.  If I had to go back and do it again, perhaps I miss the busy days of standing five to six hours nonstop till break to check out hundreds of customers going through the que lines.  Many times shoppers don't have coupons so I had to use my best judgement to give them the benefit to their purchase by saving money.  Recall the customer in the que line, the gentleman with greying hair sagely eyeing the kids ahead of him doing summersaults on the barriers to the half asleep parents rather than reprimanding them and causing a scene.

Today is a whole new world of shopping now that online shopping definitely makes it much more fun and rewarding to shop and be with our loved ones.  How much more convenient is it, that you just need to have a coupon to add to the cart before you pay.  In this day and age, I give the crowds a jaundiced eye as I do not favor the rush as much.

Is it ethical to still go out shopping right after thanksgiving?  If there are stores still willing to be open, is it much different now that more shoppers find it convenient? Is it worth it?