Three area PREIT malls to close on Thanksgiving

Three regional malls owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust will be closed on Thanksgiving.

The three malls are the Gallery II, Moorestown Mall, and Plymouth Meeting Mall, according to Heather Crowell, PREIT's head of investor relations, in an email Wednesday. She said the three venues will reopen at 6 a.m. for Black Friday.

"Having closely observed traffic patterns and retailer demand over the past several years, we have carefully selected some of our properties to open on Thanksgiving," Crowell said. "The decision to close certain properties until Black Friday morning reflects our attempt to balance the mall and retail associates' time with their families with shopper demand and our retail partners' success."

Last month, heavyweight Mall of America announced that it would be closed this year on Thanksgiving to give its employees time to spend with their families and to push back Black Friday to Friday. Several dozen other retailers, including REI, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Nordstrom, have also decided to do the same.

In the Philadelphia area, other PREIT malls have chosen to open both on Thanksgiving and Black Friday with the following hours:

Exton Square Mall and its Macy's store will be open 5 p.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving and reopen 6 a.m. on Black Friday.

Cherry Hill Mall and Willow Grove Park Mall will be open Thanksgiving from 6 p.m. to midnight, and reopen 6 a.m. for Black Friday.

sparmley@phillynews.com and @Suzparmley.