In a bid to help customers drive the most value from their holiday shopping trips, supercenter pioneer Meijer is releasing its holiday ads early. Beginning Tuesday, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer began posting all of its special holiday sale prices on its website -- a full nine days before the Thanksgiving holiday.

"Economic conditions are motivating consumers to spend more time searching out the best values in retail," said Jeff Handler, Meijer's s.v.p. of marketing. "Meijer always strives to provide the best customer service, and this year it includes helping our customers save time, plan their shopping trips and ensure the best prices in the market."

In addition, Meijer, which is open on Thanksgiving Day, has also again unveiled three separate holiday ads in order to help its customers avoid the necessity of waiting to determine what they can save during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

As such, Meijer's Thanksgiving Black Friday and Saturday ads are now available on its Web site, which enables shoppers to click on the "weekly ad" link to see more than 400 specific items with special holiday prices -- many at more than 50 percent off.

With all of its 185 stores open on Thanksgiving, "Black Friday" begins a day early at Meijer, with the retailer offering a variety of doorbusters beginning at 6:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.

"We expect the Thanksgiving shopping day to be one of our busiest in years," said Handler. "Meijer customers know how to take advantage of a great sale, and we are pleased to give them a head start on the Black Friday weekend."