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For Walmart, Black Friday is the biggest day of the year. But one of the smaller retailers it recently acquired is taking the day off instead.
ModCloth, a women’s fashion retailer that does most of its business online, is shutting down its site on Black Friday and said it is donating clothes with a retail value of $5 million to a nonprofit called Dress for Success instead.
It is also giving its employees the day off and running a social media contest focused on recognizing people who do charitable work in their communities.
With the move, ModCloth joins a small group of retailers that use the day to make a statement or do some good. Outdoor gear retailer REI, for example, is shutting its store on Black Friday for the third year in a row.
The move by ModCloth is especially noteworthy. The company has been around for 15 years but this year marks the first time it is closing for Black Friday, a spokesperson confirmed.
Could it be that ModCloth previously could not afford the financial hit of shutting down on a big shopping day when it was an independent company?
Or is it that ModCloth is looking for a way to prove to longtime customers — many of whom were vocal about their displeasure that a company whose clothes celebrated individuality was acquired by a corporate behemoth — that it truly had maintained its independence.
Frankly, both make sense.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.