For the first time this year, Sean Oliver won’t have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with his wife and two young daughters.

Instead, he will be managing Best Buy’s earliest-ever Black Friday sale starting at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

Best Buy and many of the nation’s major retailers, such as Macy’s, Sears and Target, are starting their Black Friday sales today, a controversial move that means employees will have to cut short their Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends.

“If you work in retail … it is a sacrifice,” said Oliver, 39, general manager of the Iwilei Best Buy. “For me, my wife and kids are going to go have Thanksgiving dinner at her in-laws. I just won’t be there. My family has just come to accept it.”

Previously, the day after Thanksgiving has been the kickoff to the holiday buying season, with stores opening as early as midnight. But over the past several years, merchants have pushed opening times into Thanksgiving as they seek to capture a greater share of holiday spending.

Retailers say they are reacting to consumer demand and the pressure from competitors who open earlier.

An estimated 33 million shoppers, nearly one-quarter of those polled in a National Retail Federation survey, plan to shop on Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday is still expected to be the biggest retail day of the weekend with a projected 97 million, or 69 percent, of shoppers hitting the sales.

The trend of opening on Thanksgiving has riled some workers and holiday purists who do not want business to encroach on the traditional family time. Some retailers have found they can win points with shoppers by announcing they will remain closed on Thanksgiving.

Pearlridge Center decided to close on Thanksgiving “to allow our employees to enjoy this holiday with their families.” But the center’s anchor tenants — Toys R Us, Sears and Macy’s — will open as part of those stores’ national strategy. Nearly 40 other merchants will open at midnight, while the rest of the mall’s 210 stores will open at 6 a.m. Friday.

“We chose to keep the malls closed. The inevitable’s coming, but we sort of want to keep it as traditional as we can,” said Fred Paine, Pearlridge general manager. “A lot of our merchants didn’t want to open early. They have families and employees as well. We sort of like the way we’re doing it now and we’ll see what happens with sales.”

Ala Moana Center officially kicks off Black Friday at 6 a.m. on Friday, though nearly 20 stores plan to do business on Thanksgiving. The earliest opening is at 9 a.m. Thursday at Old Navy.

Locally owned boutique Eden in Love at Ward Warehouse will open at 6 a.m. on Friday, and its owner, Tanna Dang, didn’t even consider opening on the holiday.

“We are not open on Thanksgiving — that wasn’t even an option for us,” she said. “Our employees are working such long hours all the way up until Black Friday and it’s the one day they have to relax.”

Major retailers not on the Thanksgiving opening list include Nordstrom, T.J. Maxx, Costco and Sam’s Club.

Some of the stores opening on Thanksgiving, such as Best Buy, will pay employees time and a half for working the holiday and give employees the option of not working.

Oliver, Best Buy’s Iwilei manager, said the store was pushed into opening on Thanksgiving because of competition from other retailers.

“The competitors out there like Macy’s set the tone. For us at Best Buy, we’ve actually had to adjust and react to that to kind of keep a competitive edge.”

Some Black Friday shoppers are torn between wanting to get to stores while the items with the best prices are still in stock and wanting to spend time with family.

A national petition drive on the website change.org collected more than 230,000 signatures to “Save Thanksgiving.”

Kaimuki resident Renee Tulonghari hasn’t missed a single Black Friday doorbuster in the past 10 years. But this year will be different.

“I’ll probably forgo all the really good deals, but it’s not worth it. I’d rather spend time with my family,” she said, adding that she will start her shopping at her usual midnight hour. “When I first saw that, for example, Walmart was opening their first sale at 6, I just thought it was ridiculous, but I knew it was a matter of time that everybody was going to jump on the bandwagon. I mean, how badly do you need anything? I understand there are some families who do not have the privilege of buying stuff at regular price. It does give people the opportunity, but at what cost? When does this end?”

Avid Black Friday shopper Ivy Costa agreed that setting aside one day of the year to give thanks shouldn’t be compromised.

“Thursday is for giving thanks, let’s leave it alone,” said Costa, also a Kaimuki resident. “I love Black Friday. This whole ‘have to get there Thursday,’ it’s just crazy. It makes no sense to save a few hundred dollars at the expense of my children’s Thanksgiving memories. Building memories for my children is priceless.”

Then there is Taryn Manuel, 35, of Honolulu, who is looking forward to starting her holiday shopping after dinner Thursday at 8 p.m.

“They have good sales, cheaper stuff starting at 8 and 10,” she said. “It’s kind of better. If you have to wait until midnight or early in the morning sometimes you get so tired you don’t want to get out and go. This way if you go out earlier and get in the lines, then you won’t get tired or lazy waiting for those midnight openings.”