I've worked holidays before, and the worst part of it for me was the people who wanted to talk about how awful it was that I was working on a holiday. Wasn't that just terrible? I must just hate it! It's so awful that XYZ is open on holidays. When I worked at the airport for one holiday season (ended up working Thanksgiving and Christmas that year), I told one gentleman who just wouldn't stop talking about disgusting it was that I was there, "Well, I'm here because people like you are interested in flying on the holidays and so people need to work in order for there to be flights. How many bags did you need to check again?". I got called very rude but at least he stopped trying to sympathize with me.
I would be okay with retailers being open on Thanksgiving if I knew that employees could have the day off. I haven't heard of people having the choice of taking it off, and that makes me mad. If an employee values a day off versus possible additional money (at one job I got paid extra for working on a holiday, at another I didn't), then I think that person should be able to request the days off.