Christmas opening hours: The stores where you can shop for longer this festive season
The Christmas period is fast approaching, with just two weeks until Australian families will be tearing open their gifts and enjoying a roast lunch or barbecue.
Many will want to get a jump start on food, present and alcohol shopping to avoid the holiday crowds and inevitable store closures.
From this Friday, Westfield stores across the country will have extended trading hours and most supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths will be open everyday except December 25.
Here’s your guide to what’s open in the lead up to – and during – Christmas.
Westfield shopping centres
Most Westfield Centres across the country will kick off extended trading hours from the end of this week and are expecting hundreds of thousands of shoppers to pour in.
In NSW, centres in Bondi Junction, Chatswood, Eastgardens, Hornsby, Liverpool, Warringah Mall and Parramatta will be open until 7pm from Friday.
From the 17th until the 19th, most NSW Westfield stores will trade until 9pm and until midnight on the 20th.
Extended trading hours will start at Victorian Westfield centres, including Doncaster, Fountain Gate, Knox and Southland, from Saturday.
Westfield Fountain Gate will be open until 2am on the 21st and Doncaster, Southland and Knox until midnight.
Queensland extended hours are from the 17th until Christmas Eve, with North Lakes, Garden City, Carindale, Chermside, Coomera and Helensvale open until 9pm or midnight in the lead up.
Westfield Parramatta will keep its doors open for a marathon 36 hour trading from December 20 allowing customers to shop around the clock.
All Westfield centres will be closed on Christmas Day and reopen on the 26th.
Chadstone shopping centre
Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne’s south-east started its extended trading hours on December 10, opening at 9am and closing at 9pm.
From Monday December 17 until the 22nd, the centre’s trading hours will extend from 8am to midnight daily.
The iconic Chadstone tradition of store trading for 34 straight hours starts on the 23rd, ending at 6pm on Christmas Eve for those in need of last minute gifts from over 550 stores.
Chadstone will close on Christmas Day and reopen on Boxing Day at 6am and will then be open every day, including New Year’s.
Woolworths, Coles and ALDI opening hours
Most Woolworths stores across the country will be open in the lead up to Christmas with normal or slightly extended trading hours.
Exceptions include Sydney’s George Street and Metcentre stores, which will be closed the weekend before Christmas Day.
In Victoria, Bourke Street and Collins Square Woolworths’ will be closed from Saturday 22nd December and reopen on Wednesday 2nd January 2019.
Brisbane Airport’s Woolies will open for 24 hours from the 21st until the 23rd if December. All Woolworths stores will be closed on Christmas Day.
Coles supermarkets will also be open ahead of Christmas with some extended hours. Shoppers are urged to check their local store website for details.
All Coles stores will be open until Christmas Eve and then reopen on Boxing Day.
There will be changes to ALDI store trading hours over the Christmas period, with all stores
open on Christmas Eve, with varying trading hours.
All stores will be closed on Christmas Day and some stores in NSW, including Leichhardt and Liverpool Central, will be closed on Boxing Day.
Bottle shops
For the second and third week of December, most Dan Murphy’s stores will have normal trading up until 10pm and earlier is better for stocking up on booze.
Dan Murphy’s stores will be closed on Christmas Day and will reopen on the 26th.
BWS stores will also be open in the lead up to the public holiday until 8pm.
Bunnings
Bunning stores across the country will be open normal trading hours until the Christmas period and will then close Christmas Day.
On Boxing Day it will reopen for slightly longer trading hours from 8am in most stores.
