News / Business
Going "Cold Turkey" Thanksgiving Week
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, the frozen turkey won’t be the only thing that needs to be thawed out. Cold, Arctic air is projected to sweep across Canada and the northern tier of the United States starting next weekend (11/20 & 11/21) and persisting through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. For the U.S. as a whole, this is shaping up to be the coldest Thanksgiving week since 2003 and the 5th coldest Thanksgiving week in nearly 20 years. Low temperatures will approach 0oF across North Dakota and Montana, and temperatures across the northern tier will trend -10 to -20 and even -30o F colder than last year. Mainly dry weather will accompany the Arctic air mass, however, a bit of snow cannot be ruled out in places like Minneapolis, MN or Seattle, WA. Disruptions to store traffic during the crucial Black Friday weekend should be minimal with very cold weather enhancing seasonal category sales. See the Winter Blast Map.
Retailers across the northern U.S. should prepare for dramatic increases in demand for cold weather categories. Expect year-on-year demand for air filters, hand & body lotions, fire logs, antifreeze, and pantry loading food items to see strong double digit increases. Very strong double, or even triple, digit gains should be anticipated for car batteries, outerwear and heaters as consumers contend with bitter cold during the holiday week. We've compiled a chart that shows the temperature change versus last year for the coldest days of the “Thanksgiving Winter Blast” in Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; and Seattle, WA and the expected sales increases.
Parts of the East and South will see the arrival of cooler air with this air mass although temperatures will not drop as dramatically as places in the North Central and Northwest. Still, cold weather categories will receive an extra boost from the colder weather with single to double digit increases in demand for body lotions, air filters, rodenticides, hot beverages and soups, and fire logs.
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