Christmas Eve Hours 2026: Walmart, Target, Costco and More Stores

Almost everything is open on Christmas Eve – Thursday, December 24, 2026 – but nearly all of it closes early. Going by last year, Walmart closes at 6 p.m., Target at 8 p.m., Costco at 5 p.m., Publix at 7 p.m., Kroger stores between 6 and 8 p.m. and Aldi around 4 p.m. Restaurants are open, many until mid-afternoon or early evening only. Mail is delivered, banks open with short hours, and the stock market closes at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Retailers have not published their Christmas Eve 2026 hours yet; most do so between mid-November and mid-December. The closing times in this guide are the ones each chain confirmed for December 24, 2025, mostly in company statements to USA Today and on corporate websites, and they are labeled as last year's. Chains rarely move these times by more than an hour from one year to the next, but "rarely" is not "never," and individual stores can differ. We will update the tables as 2026 hours are announced.

Walmart Christmas Eve hours

Walmart stores were open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve 2025; "stores close at 6 p.m.," the company told USA Today. Stores then stay closed all of Christmas Day and reopened at 6 a.m. on December 26 last year.

Three details catch shoppers out:

• Online order cutoffs come hours before the doors close. For Christmas Eve 2025, Walmart said same-day pickup and delivery orders had to be placed by noon local time, and express delivery orders by 5 p.m. in select markets.
• Service counters keep their own hours. Walmart has not published Christmas Eve hours for its pharmacy, vision center or auto care center, so look at your store's page or call before you count on any of them.
• Reopening is not until Friday's holiday is over. Walmart stores stay closed all day on December 25; last year they reopened at 6 a.m. on December 26, according to the Associated Press.

Target Christmas Eve hours

Target stores were open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on December 24, 2025, according to the company's holiday fact sheet, after staying open until midnight on the days leading up to it. Target asked for Order Pickup and Drive Up orders by 6 p.m. and same-day delivery orders by 3 p.m. local time. Stores were closed on Christmas Day and reopened at 7 a.m. on December 26.

Costco Christmas Eve hours

Most Costco warehouses were open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve 2025, with Executive members admitted from 9 a.m. That 5 p.m. close is one of the earliest among big retailers. Costco does not publish separate Christmas Eve hours for its pharmacy, gas station or other counters, so check your warehouse's page. Costco is closed on Christmas Day as a matter of standing policy. Sam's Club was open until 6 p.m. (from 8 a.m. for Plus members and 9 a.m. for everyone else), and BJ's Wholesale Club from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Christmas Eve store hours: last year's closing times

The stores open latest on Christmas Eve are the dollar chains, drugstores and convenience stores. Dollar General and Family Dollar kept regular hours last year, in many places until 10 p.m. Walgreens and CVS stay open, 24-hour locations included, and they are also open on Christmas Day. If it is 8:30 p.m. on December 24 and you need tape, batteries or a gift card, those are your stores.

Grocery store Christmas Eve hours

Kroger gives a range because its divisions set their own times: last year Kroger stores in central Ohio closed at 6 p.m., Fry's in Phoenix at 8 p.m. and Ralphs in Southern California as late as 10 p.m., according to local reports. Meijer is a good illustration of why a phone call beats a list: outlets printed different closing times for it last year and the company's website carried no schedule, so we give none. Remember that most of these chains do not open at all on December 25; the exceptions are in our guide to grocery stores open on Christmas.

Pharmacy counters and convenience stores on Christmas Eve

Pharmacy counters keep shorter hours than the stores around them, and on Christmas Eve the gap is wide. Last year supermarket pharmacies closed at 3 p.m. at Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Giant Eagle, at 4 p.m. at most Kroger-family stores and at 5 p.m. at H-E-B, in each case hours before the store itself. Walgreens and CVS said their pharmacy hours could vary or be reduced. Collect prescriptions by Wednesday if possible, and no later than Thursday morning; the options after that are covered in pharmacies open on Christmas.

Convenience stores and gas stations barely change their routine. 7-Eleven, Wawa, Sheetz, QuikTrip and the big travel-center chains ran normal, mostly 24-hour schedules through both days last year. The notable exception was Casey's, which closed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and reopened at 10 a.m. on Christmas Day. Fill the tank on Thursday anyway if you are driving on Friday, since rural stations with a staffed store may be dark.

Restaurants open on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is a regular service day for most restaurants, with an early finish. What chains confirmed for 2025:

Is Chick-fil-A open on Christmas Eve? Yes in 2026, because the day is a Thursday; the company's policy is to open on Christmas Eve unless it falls on a Sunday, with limited hours. There is no single national closing time; each restaurant posts its own in the Chick-fil-A app. For a sit-down dinner, reserve for 6 p.m. or earlier and confirm the kitchen's last seating. Chain-by-chain notes are in restaurants open on Christmas Day and fast food open on Christmas.

Post office, banks and markets on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is not a federal holiday. The essentials:

• Post office. Open, and mail is delivered. The Postal Service said last year that some post offices may have limited hours on Christmas Eve; in some districts, such as Los Angeles, all offices closed at noon. Check your branch.
• UPS. Delivers on December 24, 2026, with pickups limited to pre-arranged air and international shipments. UPS Store locations are open.
• FedEx. Lists December 24, 2026 as a modified-service day, and FedEx Office locations keep modified hours, with some closing early.
• Banks. Open, usually with a short day. Last year Bank of America said on its website that its branches would close at 2 p.m.; Chase and most other big banks do not publish a Christmas Eve time, so check the branch locator. The Federal Reserve operates normally.
• Stock market. The NYSE and Nasdaq close at 1 p.m. Eastern on December 24, 2026; bond markets are recommended to close at 2 p.m.
• Government offices. Federal offices are scheduled to be open, although presidents have closed them by executive order in several recent years, always announced in December. Some states, including Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Michigan, give state workers the day off in 2026.

The details, including what an executive order does and does not change, are in is Christmas Eve a federal holiday.

What time should you shop on Christmas Eve?

A workable plan for the day, assuming last year's hours hold:

A few habits make the day easier. Shop with a written list arranged by store. Buy anything with a counter – prescriptions, deli trays, bakery orders, custom cakes, photo prints – first, because counters close before stores. Keep gift receipts. And check the fridge for the things that derail Christmas dinner when they run out: butter, eggs, cream and stock.

Malls, gyms and other Christmas Eve hours

Shopping malls generally open in the morning and close around 6 p.m.; two of the largest malls in Columbus, Ohio, for example, ran 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. last year. Department store anchors keep their own hours. Gym hours are a local matter: Planet Fitness says its clubs are independently owned and that hours vary by location. State liquor stores close early as well – Pennsylvania's Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores have confirmed a 6 p.m. close on December 24, 2026, and Virginia ABC stores closed at 6 p.m. last year. U-Haul says its stores typically close at 3 p.m. on holidays and close entirely only on Christmas Day. Public libraries often close at midday; the New York Public Library lists an early closure for December 24, 2026.

After the stores close

From about 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve until the morning of Saturday, December 26, retail in most towns shrinks to drugstores, convenience stores and gas stations. That is enough for almost any real emergency. For the full picture of the holiday itself, see what is open on Christmas Day and stores open on Christmas. If the cards are still unwritten at 9 p.m., our Christmas wishes can help with the words.