This Thanksgiving, the open-versus-shut debate has grown even louder.

Wal-Mart, Kmart, Macy’s, Target, RadioShack and many other major retailers are proclaiming they will be open Thanksgiving Day to make shoppers happy. But Costco, Marshalls, GameStop and T.J. Maxx are riding the backlash against holiday commerce by boasting that they will not relent: They will remain closed that day to show that they are family-friendly and honoring the holiday.

But even as retailers vie for every dollar during a very competitive season, Tony Bartel, the president of GameStop, views this debate as open-and-shut.

“For us, it’s a matter of principle,” said Bartel, whose company has 4,600 stores nationwide. “We have a phrase around here that we use a lot — it’s called ‘protecting the family.’ We want our associates to enjoy their complete holidays.”

In a big difference from last holiday season — when more retailers decided to open their doors on Thanksgiving with enticing deals — this year others are firing back and promoting their decision not to join the rush to push Black Friday into Thanksgiving Day. They are happy to tell the world that they will remain closed on a beloved American holiday.

“It’s an important holiday in the U.S., and our employees work hard during the holiday season, and we believe they deserve the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving Day with their family and friends,” said Richard Galanti, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Costco Wholesale, the nation’s second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart. “We’ve never opened on Thanksgiving, and when the trend to do so occurred in the last couple or three years, we chose not to because we thought it was the right thing to do for our employees.”

More than two dozen major retail chains plan to stay dark on Thanksgiving, including Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Burlington Coat Factory, Crate and Barrel, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Patagonia.

Johan Araujo, a senior game adviser at GameStop’s flagship store in Herald Square in Manhattan, New York, applauded his company’s decision.

“It’s good to know they’re thinking about us and what we want,” he said. His plans involve cooking the turkey for his fiancée and friends this year.

Sidney Bartlett, the manager of Araujo’s store, said when the store used to be open on Thanksgiving — it started closing for the holiday last year — it was painful to figure out which employees to inconvenience and schedule to work that day.

“I thought it’s great the CEO decided to close for the holiday,” he said.

More than 55,000 people have signed a petition on change.org urging Target to remain closed on Thanksgiving, while the Boycott Black Thursday Facebook page has more than 87,000 likes.

Wal-Mart officials say they are doing consumers a favor by opening on Thanksgiving. To reduce the long lines that have upset many shoppers on Black Friday, Wal-Mart announced Tuesday that it would spread Black Friday over five days.

“It became Black Friday, then it became Thursday, and now it’s becoming weeklong,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart. “Maybe it’s going to be November.”

The University of Connecticut Poll conducted a survey last November that found that nine out of 10 Americans said they didn’t plan to spend Thanksgiving hunting for bargains, while 7 percent said they planned to visit stores on Thanksgiving Day.

The poll of 1,189 adults, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent, found that 49 percent disapproved of stores opening on Thanksgiving Day, with 16 percent approving and 34 percent neutral.

Last Thanksgiving, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Sears and Target all opened at 8 p.m. This year, Kmart plans to open at 6 a.m. and remain open for the next 42 hours.

“All these companies were closed for decades,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “What’s changed is that some have chosen to remain open, and those companies should be getting demerits. People should ask, ‘Is this the sort of society we want to live in that people aren’t even given the option of celebrating holidays?’”