Despite best efforts to buy stocking fillers well in advance, chances are that last-minute shopping simply cannot be avoided this year (again). Instead of frantically scrolling google with turkey filling-covered hands when potatoes suddenly don’t seem enough, Opening Times keeps your stress levels low this holiday season with a quick guide to opening hours in your area.
Gifts
The kids are on school-break, work is extra busy, Christmas parties are filling up the calendar – Who still has time for Christmas present shopping? Shopping malls are the perfect place to snatch up as many presents in one location as possible whilst comparing prices and seasonal discounts. No need for store-hopping on the high-street when you can take the car and load off shopping bags conveniently in between purchases. Depending on your location and level of despair, these are the best options for late but high-quality Christmas present shopping:
Last Minute
The malls with the longest opening hours on Christmas Eve are Meadowhall in Sheffield and Lakeside in Thurrock, Essex, which will close at 10pm – the perfect excuse to skip Midnight Mass and buy a cheeky gift for yourself. If none of these options are within reasonable distance of your Christmas retreat, an interactive map that shows all UK shopping malls and their opening times will help out:
Extremely Last Minute
Dare to admit that you might have to sneak out on Christmas morning to finish the job? Unfortunately, shopping malls in the UK are required to stay closed on Christmas Day by law, which makes last-minute shopping adventures à la Jingle All the Way impossible. Unless you consider buying a plane ticket to get access to duty-free shopping to save your Christmas Day?
Groceries
Last Minute
All major supermarket chains will be open on the 24th but closing times will vary from usual business hours. It might be advisable to check your local store via the shop’s website before embarking on a long and fruitless mission to find the missing ingredient for dessert.
Extremely Last Minute
The best guess for late night sweets cravings after a rich Christmas eve dinner will be your local corner shop, as independent businesses are free to decide opening times themselves, even on public holidays. If the roast is burnt beyond repair, a frozen pizza from your local cost-cutter could always be a possibility.
It’s time to make the most of the boxing day sales (that’s if you’ve still got any money left over from Christmas). Shops across the UK will have been preparing for the boxing day sales, so get ahead of the queue and make the most of the sales this year. Remember, it’s still a bank holiday for most so expect varied opening times (check our local online store guide).
In our latest study, we reviewed 6,387 businesses across the UK to find out their opening times on Boxing Day. Not only does this help our website visitors, it also let us determine which cities are best to go shopping and dining out during this often-busy period.
We discovered that the cities in the North of England and Scotland are prepared for an exceptionally busy time, as 6 out of the top 10 cities with the highest proportion of shops opened on Boxing Day are located in this region.
Results show that 70% of businesses in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 69% in Sheffield will be open on Boxing Day. Similarly, a large percentage of businesses will open in areas such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee, with each of them having 70% – 76% of businesses opened for trade. As there are no trading hours restrictions in Scotland, many shops will most likely opt to stay open and take advantage of the high demand for goods and services.
Conversely, businesses in Wales, West Midlands and the South West won’t be very busy. Results show that fewer than half of businesses in Plymouth, Poole and Swindon will be open on that day. Quietest of all will be Swansea and Newport with as little as 36% of businesses in town open on Boxing Day.
To get a better insight, we created an interactive map showing the different percentages of businesses that will be open, in various cities, around the UK on Boxing Day.
While long opening hours are very convenient for consumers, employees might not see things the same way. Working late nights or early mornings during the holiday season isn’t an attractive prospect for anybody. There is no automatic right for workers to have public holidays off, unless it’s in their contract. Similarly, extra pay for working public holidays is optional, unless it is stated in the contract.
Our analysis of the percentage of shops opened for some of the major UK chains shows that whether a store is open on Boxing Day heavily relies on the type of business that it is, but with wide variety from store to store. For example, while a larger proportion of grocery stores normally open on Boxing Day, with the likes of ASDA and Sainsburys opening all their stores across the UK, other chains like Waitrose and Lidl have decided to remain largely closed on 26 December.
The world of retail is changing, and businesses are constantly having to find ways to find balance between changing trends and employees relations.
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