Wal-Mart is taking an early start to Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. The discount retail chain released its Black Friday ad Thursday, announcing that this year the store will open at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night for discounts on household items, clothing, and toys. Electronics will go on sale 2 hours later, at midnight.

Possibly as surprising as the deals is the timing of the advertisement for Wal-Mart Black Friday 2011. Last year, Wal-Mart didn’t announce its Black Friday deals until Nov. 22, meaning this year’s revelations are coming a full twelve days earlier than before.

But the early Wal-Mart announcement is just the latest in a trend of stores getting an earlier and earlier start to the Black Friday rush: For the first time, Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic are opening up their stores at midnight on Black Friday, alongside Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Target, which have all done it before.