What Stores Are Open on Thanksgiving 2026? Open and Closed List

Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday, November 26 – a federal holiday – and Black Friday follows on November 27. As of mid-October, none of the major chains has announced its 2026 holiday hours. The best guide is what they did last year, and in 2025 the split was clear: big-box stores, warehouse clubs, home improvement chains and department stores closed for the day. Many supermarkets, drugstores and dollar stores stayed open, mostly with shorter hours.

The short version: if you need a turkey, cream or a forgotten can of pumpkin on Thanksgiving morning, head to a supermarket such as Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway, Whole Foods, H-E-B, Wegmans or Food Lion. Go early – most closed by mid-afternoon in 2025. Don't plan on Walmart, Target, Costco, Aldi, Trader Joe's or Publix; all were closed.

Below are the 2025 hours for each chain, as reported by Business Insider, WRAL, ABC7 and AL.com. More holiday planning is in the 77.today holidays section.

Which stores are open on Thanksgiving 2026?

Retailers usually publish their hours in November, so for now the 2025 pattern is the best guide:

• Mostly closed: big-box stores (Walmart, Target), warehouse clubs (Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's), electronics (Best Buy), home improvement (Home Depot, Lowe's), department stores (Kohl's, Macy's) and several grocers (Aldi, Trader Joe's, Publix, Lidl).
• Mostly open, shorter hours: traditional supermarkets such as Kroger and its sister banners, Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Acme, Whole Foods, H-E-B, Wegmans, Food Lion, Giant, ShopRite and Stop & Shop.
• Open: most CVS stores, Dollar General, 24-hour Walgreens locations and many gas-station convenience stores.

Hours can differ from store to store even within the same chain. Before you drive anywhere on Thursday, check your store's page or app on Wednesday.

Closed on Thanksgiving: Walmart, Target, Costco and others

Is Walmart open on Thanksgiving? Not in recent years. Walmart has closed its U.S. stores on Thanksgiving Day every year since 2020, including 2025, and reopened at regular hours on Black Friday. Target also closed in 2025; it began closing during the pandemic and later said the change was permanent.

Is Costco open on Thanksgiving? No. Costco closes on Thanksgiving, as do Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club. If you're hosting a big group, finish your warehouse-club shopping by Wednesday.

Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, Kohl's and Macy's were also closed in 2025 and opened early on Friday instead. If your oven, faucet or extension cord fails on Thursday, you won't be able to replace it at a big-box store that day.

Some grocers close too. Aldi, Trader Joe's, Publix and Lidl were all closed on Thanksgiving 2025.

Black Friday opening times are from AL.com's 2025 list; Target's was reported as 6 a.m. by AL.com and 7 a.m. for most stores by ABC7.

Grocery stores open on Thanksgiving Day

Most traditional supermarkets open on Thanksgiving morning and close early so employees can get home for dinner. These were the 2025 hours:

Kroger. Kroger was open on Thanksgiving 2025, but closing times varied by region. Business Insider reported 4 p.m., ABC7 reported 5 p.m., and AL.com reported 3 p.m. for stores in its area. Pharmacies were closed. Kroger's sister chains (Ralphs, Harris Teeter and others) set their own hours, so check your store's listing.

Albertsons and Safeway. Most Albertsons stores opened from 6 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m., according to ABC7. Safeway was open with hours that varied by location.

Whole Foods. Most stores were open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. – one of the earliest closings – so this is a morning stop for specialty and dietary items. If you need ingredients for our pumpkin recipes guide, get them before lunch.

H-E-B. The Texas chain was open from 6 a.m. to noon. If you're shopping in H-E-B territory, go early.

Wegmans. Most stores were open until 4 p.m. Five stores in the Boston area were closed for the day, according to Business Insider.

Food Lion. Stores in North Carolina's Triangle region were open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to WRAL, and hours varied by location.

Regional chains reported open in 2025, according to The National News Desk, included Acme, Giant, Martin's, ShopRite, Sprouts, Hannaford, Harris Teeter, Stop & Shop, Ralphs, Vons and The Fresh Market. All of them generally ran shorter hours.

Pharmacies and convenience stores

Drugstores and dollar stores are the fallback when supermarkets close. They carry milk, eggs, snacks, foil pans, paper plates, batteries and over-the-counter medicine.

CVS. Most CVS stores were open on Thanksgiving 2025, but hours varied: WRAL reported 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for most local stores, while other outlets gave different hours. The pharmacy counter may keep different hours from the store, so if you need a prescription, call ahead.

Walgreens. Walgreens closed most stores on Thanksgiving 2025 but kept its 24-hour locations open. Use the store locator to find the nearest 24-hour store before the holiday.

Dollar General. Dollar General was open, generally from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with some stores open until 10 p.m. It is often the latest-closing option, and in rural areas it may be the only one.

Gas-station convenience stores and many independent corner shops also stay open, though their selection is small and prices are higher.

Black Friday 2026 opening hours

Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27. No major retailer had announced its 2026 opening times as of mid-October, and most published their schedules in November last year.

In 2025, stores that closed on Thanksgiving opened early on Friday rather than on Thursday night. Kohl's opened at 5 a.m.; Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's and Macy's opened at 6 a.m. Costco opened at 9 a.m. for Executive members and 10 a.m. for everyone else. Walmart, Sam's Club and Trader Joe's kept regular hours. Many Black Friday deals now start online days or even weeks earlier, so you may not need to be at a store when it opens.

Tips for last-minute Thanksgiving shopping

• Check hours on Wednesday. Use the store's own website or app rather than a map listing; holiday hours on map apps are often out of date.
• Shop before noon. H-E-B closed at noon and Whole Foods at 1 p.m. in 2025, and most other supermarkets closed by 3–5 p.m. By late morning, shelves of cream, butter, stuffing mix and canned pumpkin can be bare.
• Split the list. A supermarket for fresh food; a CVS, a 24-hour Walgreens or Dollar General for foil, batteries and paper goods.
• Have a backup. Know the second-nearest open store in case your first choice closes early or runs out.
• Order ahead. Pies, rolls and prepared sides are easier to reserve for pickup on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you'd rather bake, our apple pie recipe guide works with pantry staples you can buy early in the week.

Restaurants open on Thanksgiving

If you would rather not cook, several national chains served customers on Thanksgiving 2025, according to ABC7 New York. None has announced 2026 hours yet, except as noted below.

Cracker Barrel. Open on Thanksgiving 2025 with a traditional holiday meal. Its holiday page says stores keep regular hours on Thanksgiving Day, with the traditional meal starting at 11 a.m.

Golden Corral. Open on Thanksgiving 2025 at participating locations, with carved roasted turkey and glazed ham.

Denny's, IHOP and Waffle House. In 2025 Denny's was open, though not every location ran 24 hours. IHOP was open, with hours set by location. Waffle House was open at most locations.

Coffee and fast food. In 2025 most Dunkin' locations were open, Starbucks opened select stores with varying hours, and McDonald's restaurants were usually open, with hours depending on the location and franchise.

Holiday menus and hours vary by restaurant, so call ahead, and book early if you are bringing a large group.

States where big stores must stay closed

Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine are the only states that still prohibit most retail shopping on Thanksgiving, Ocean State Media reported in November 2025. If you live there, finish your grocery shopping by Wednesday.

Massachusetts. Retail, including most grocery stores, is restricted on Thanksgiving, while restaurants, pharmacies and hotels may operate. Gas stations, small food stores with three or fewer employees, pet stores, florists and lottery ticket sellers are also allowed to open (WCVB, 2025).

Maine. State law says no store with more than 5,000 square feet of interior customer selling space may open on Thanksgiving Day, Easter or Christmas (Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17, §3204). Smaller stores are not covered by that ban.

Rhode Island. Most retail is closed, but pharmacies, restaurants, florists, bakeries and small grocery stores are among the businesses allowed to open (Ocean State Media, 2025).

The day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest grocery days, so shop early in the morning if you can.

Gas stations and convenience stores

When supermarkets close, convenience chains fill the gap. On Thanksgiving 2025, nearly all 7-Eleven, Circle K, Wawa, Sheetz and QuikTrip stores were open, many of them 24 hours as usual, Entrepreneur reported.

They are good for ice, milk, drinks, snacks and over-the-counter medicine, but don't count on fresh produce, raw meat or baking supplies.

Post offices, banks and package delivery on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday, so the services that follow the federal calendar stop for the day. Most of them are back to normal on Friday, which is not a holiday.

Mail. USPS lists Thanksgiving Day among its 2026 postal holidays, and post offices reopen on Friday. Priority Mail Express is the exception: USPS delivers it every day of the year, with limited exceptions. For the full calendar, see our guide to post office holidays in 2026.

Packages. UPS's 2026 holiday schedule shows no pickup or delivery on Thanksgiving Day and normal service on Friday. FedEx lists itself and FedEx Office as closed on November 26 and running modified service on November 27. If something has to arrive before the holiday, ship it early in the week.

Banks. The Federal Reserve observes Thanksgiving, so wire transfers and ACH payments such as direct deposits are not processed that day. Many bank branches close too. A payment due on Thursday may post on Friday instead, so schedule bills a day early.

How to check your local store's hours before you go

Hours differ from store to store, even within one chain, so check the specific location you plan to visit.

• Use the retailer's own store locator or app. Look for a holiday-hours note on your store's page.
• Don't rely only on map apps. Their holiday hours are not always updated.
• Call the store. If you need a prescription, ask about pharmacy hours separately; the pharmacy may close earlier than the store.
• Look for signs at the entrance when you shop earlier in the week, and snap a photo of the posted holiday hours.
• Grocery delivery: check that your delivery slot falls within the store's holiday hours, and order early in the week.