Put the turkey on autopilot.

With holiday retail sales projected to be anemic, some familiar chains will open their doors on Thanksgiving Day several nationally for the first time.

Walmart will. So will most Old Navy stores. Toys R Us will open at midnight on Thanksgiving. RadioShack will test Turkey Day openings on the West Coast.

And it's the first time for T.G.I. Friday's. Others who have done it for years will continue, including Kmart and Walgreen's.

"They're trying to eke every penny out of every day of the selling season," says Wendy Liebmann, president of the consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail. "The more days they're open, the more chance they have of pulling money out of our pockets."

They've got good reason. Holiday spending likely will fall 1% in 2009 to $437.6 billion, the National Retail Federation projects.

"Retailers need to be competitive," says NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis. "There's a lot riding on the success of November and December retail sales."

So more will open nationally on Thanksgiving Day, including:

Walmart. Most of Wal-Mart's 3,500 stores will open Thanksgiving Day at 6 a.m. or earlier. Besides boosting sales, it's hoping to help thin volatile Black Friday crowds. Last year an employee was trampled to death by crowds after a store opened in Long Island, N.Y. "It's an added measure to help manage the event at all of our stores," says spokeswoman Daphne Moore. Promotional deals, however, will not be available until 5 a.m. Friday.