Waterford — It's a bit of an arms race when it comes to opening early on Black Friday, but at BJ's Wholesale Club, Black Friday looked pretty laid back. It opened at at 7 a.m. and there was no rush on merchandise and no long lines.

That's because the retailer has decided to forgo the typical single-day doorbuster sale, extending it for eight days.

"It's actually been good," said Joseph McMullen, manager of the Waterford BJ's Wholesale. "When it was just the one day it was a little more nerve-wracking."

The eight-day sale is coupled with BJ's longstanding policy to remain closed on Thanksgiving, to give employees time to spend the holiday with their family.

Closing on Thanksgiving is increasingly rare as larger retailers like WalMart open earlier and earlier each year to compete with eacher other.

At the Crystal Mall, retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot were closed on Thanksgiving, while others began their Black Friday sales the afternoon before including Old Navy, which opened at 4 p.m., and Target and J.C. Penney, which welcomed customers at 6 p.m.

Lynn Leventhal, who was in BJ's shopping to furnish her new house, pointed out that "Black Friday" had lost a clear definition.

"That's been the goof this year; it's not just Black Friday, they've been running it all week," Leventhal said. "It depends on the store who calls what what."

WalMart participated in a number of different ways, offering Black Friday sales online beginning midnight Thanksgiving and opening in-store-only deals that began at 6 p.m. They also will offer additional sales on Cyber Monday as well. 

Riddhi Thaker, who was shopping for her parents at Home Depot on Black Friday, said she supported Home Depot's decision to close on the holiday.

"You're making it impossible to hang out on Thanksgiving Day but you're also taking employees away ... and now they can't even shop with their family; they have to work," she said. "Quite honestly I think this whole thing is wrong."

McMullen noted the feedback the store recieves as well as the appreciation they get from employees makes it worth it.

"We get a lot of positive feedback," he said. "Members will say, 'oh, you're closed (Thanksgiving), good.' The members also like the fact that's how we treat the employees."

Denise Peterson, a customer service representative at BJ's, said she's grateful for the opportunity to spend time with her family.

"You have one day a year where you can be with (your) husband, have a good dinner and you can enjoy yourself a bit," Peterson said.

Not all shoppers support the holiday closings. Linda York of Coventry, while shopping in BJ's Friday morning, said she saw a camera for the same price she had purchased the day before at WalMart.

"They went out of their way to make it a successful experience ... they were working on issues continually," York said of WalMart. "I think BJ's should open earlier."

But while opening a couple of hours earlier might give a retailer a short-term edge, the long-term competition is with retailers like Amazon, which has offered heavy discounts and incentives all week.

Leventhal agreed, noting she was just browsing for rugs on Black Friday, and had done most of her real shopping prior.

"I'm doing mostly online, about 80 percent ... you can do it all online, if you know what you want and depending on how long you want to wait for it," Leventhal said.