Officials with Dick’s Sporting Goods announced Monday that the company’s distribution centers and its more than 725 stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.
The closures include the company’s specialty Golf Galaxy and Field & Stream stores, officials said. The company had originally planned to operate some stores for limited hours on the holiday.
Officials said employees at the company’s stores and distribution centers will continue to receive a 15% “pay premium” through the end of the year. The company began giving front-line employees the additional cash after bringing them back into stores earlier this year, the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported.
In a statement released Monday, the company’s chairman and CEO, Ed Stack, praised employees for their “strength, commitment and care for each other and for our customers” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We will continue to do all we can to support them and show our gratitude,” he said.
Officials with Target and Walmart, which also operates Sam’s Club locations, have also announced that the retailers will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.
The United States leads the world with the most coronavirus cases and the highest death toll. Since the start of the pandemic, officials have confirmed more than 4.2 million infections and reported more than 146,000 deaths nationwide, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As of Monday morning, more than 16.2 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide and more than 649,000 people have died of the viral infection, according to Johns Hopkins.