Macy's, Best Buy, Kohl's, and JCPenney are being slammed for being open on Thanksgiving - and some people are threatening not to shop with them this holiday season

John Konstantaras/AP

Kmart is among the retailers staying open for Thanksgiving.

• Macy's, JCPenney, and Kohl's are being slammed for opening their doors on Thanksgiving.
• On Thursday, Twitter lit up with complaints about retailers encroaching on the holiday and calling for shoppers to boycott these stores. 
• This year, at least 77 retailers - including Costco, TJ Maxx, and Nordstrom- said they would keep stores closed on Thanksgiving.

Customers are revolting against Thanksgiving opening hours.

Several retailers including Macy's, JCPenney, Kohl's, and Best Buy have opened their doors on Thanksgiving to offer early Black Friday deals, and in the eyes of some customers, it's backfiring.

On Thursday, Twitter lit up with complaints about retailers encroaching on this sacred day and many customers asked for fellow shoppers to boycott thes stores.  

According to data gathered by BestBlackFriday.com, at least 77 retailers said they would keep stores closed during Thanksgiving this year, the highest number recorded since it started collecting the data. Several told the website that this was because they wanted to give employees time to spend with family.

Other stores, such as REI, are even staying closed for Black Friday.

"It's the right ethical move. It's the right business move," REI CEO Jerry Stritzke told Business Insider. "I think retail for brands is about community."

"If you're open on Thanksgiving, it's hard not to pitch yourself as a greedy bastard," he said. 

Stritzke said that retailers have put themselves in an uncomfortable position by competing purely on value. Winning customers based solely on lower prices or on opening earlier, he said, builds a transactional relationship that can easily be undercut and leave retailers scrambling.