King Holiday To Be Moved

In order to provide consumers with a better shopping experience,  Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday will be moved next year to the second Monday in April.

Since its inception in 1986, the holiday has proved problematic to retailers, who point out that it follows close on the heels of Christmas and  less than a month before President’s Day. “Except for the King holiday,” said a spokeswoman for the National Association of Retailers, “The ten federal holidays are spaced pretty evenly around the year, providing consumers with an opportunity to experience large ‘blow-out’ sales from a wide variety of retailers. The King holiday, however, has been a marked failure. People have no idea what they’re supposed to do. Shop for cars?  Buy new clothes? Instead, they mostly stay at home, thinking about racial justice and doing little to boost the economy.”

Economists have long noted that there is a large gap between the February 20 President’s Day and the next federal holiday, Memorial Day in late May.  Lobbyists for the association proposed moving the King Holiday to April to fill in the gap and federal lawmakers at an industry-sponsored retreat in Hawaii leapt at the opportunity.

Retailers are still unsure about which class of goods should be sold on the new April holiday, however.  “President’s Day has always been associated with cars,” said the spokeswoman for NAR. “So that’s out.  We’re thinking maybe computers.”