What stores are open across the country this Christmas and new year
This is an essential guide to which of the major retails are open during the silly season for your last-minute gifts and food supplies.
Christmas Day is almost here and that means last minute shopping for many Australians.
There is only one day left to get gifts for loved ones and making sure the pantry is stocked for the big day.
Australians are expected to still be in stores as late as Christmas Eve getting their shopping done but it can be hard to work out which major retailers will be open.
Laws very from state to state for opening hours throughout the Christmas period. For instance New Year’s Day is not a restricted shop trading day in NSW and Victoria, and the ACT and the Northern Territory do not regulate shop trading hours.
In Queensland, trading hours over the holiday period vary depending on which part of the state you’re in, with different rules for tourist areas and seaside resorts.
Western Australia has extended trading hours, with most shops able to open from 8am to 6pm including on the New Year’s Day public holiday.
In South Australia there will be extended trading hours over the holidays, while in Tasmania it will be largely business as usual.
Westfield: All Westfields will be closed on Christmas Day throughout the country.
In NSW, all stores are open on Christmas Eve from 9am-6pm except for Woden, Belconnen, Kotara and Tuggerah, which close at 5pm. Parramatta is open from midnight until 6pm Christmas Eve.
On Boxing Day, all stores are open from 8am with the exception of Hurstville, which is open from 9am, and Mt Druitt, which is open from 10am. Sydney, Sydney Central and Parramatta are all open from 7am.
In Victoria, all Westfields are open on Christmas Eve from 8am till 6pm except for Fountain Gate, which is open from 7am. On Boxing Day, all stores open at 8am and close between 9pm and 10pm.
In South Australia, all stores are open from 9am till 5.30pm on Christmas Eve except for Marion, which is open from midnight. On Boxing Day, stores are all open from 9am till 5pm.
In WA all stores are open from 8am till 6pm except Inaloo, which is open from 9am on both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.
In QLD all stores are open from 7am till 6pm on Christmas Eve except for Chermside, which is open from midnight. On Boxing Day, all stores are open from 9am till 6pm.
Coles: All Coles stores will be closed on Christmas Day.
In VIC, TAS, ACT and NT all stores will operate under normal trading hours for the rest of the festive season with the exception of Knox and Coburg, which will be closed on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
In NSW, all stores will be open on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day with the exception of Smithfield and Macquarie Fields, which will be closed.
In QLD, all stores will trade as normal except for Mt Isa, Goondiwindi and Ayr, which will be closed on Boxing Day, Sunday, December 29 and New Year’s Day.
In WA, the CBD and metropolitan stores will open on public holidays from 8am-6pm, with select regional stores closed on those days.
In SA the CBD and metropolitan stores will be open from 9am-5pm and regional stores 8am-8pm on public holidays. On New Year’s Day, CBD stores will open from 11-5pm with metropolitan stores closed and regional stores open.
There are also extended trading hours in Perth and Adelaide throughout the festive season. Please check your local stores for details.
Woolworths: All NSW, SA, ACT, NT, VIC and TAS stores are open on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day. The Byron Bay store in NSW will stay open until 10pm on Christmas Eve.
In QLD, hours will vary with most stores open till 6pm on Christmas Eve except Mullumbimby, which will be open till 7pm. A range of Woolworths near the NSW border will be open till 9pm. The Brisbane airport store will be open until 10pm.
In Western Australia, all stores will be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Perth metropolitan stores open 7am to 9pm including Christmas Eve and 8am to 6pm on the weekends.
On Boxing Day, most stores throughout Australia will be open. All NT, ACT, VIC and Tas stores will be open, while all but Leichhardt Marketplace in NSW and Esperance and Katanning in WA will open in those states.
In Queensland on Boxing Day most stores are open except Weipa, Mission Beach, Mount Isa, Ayr, Bowen, Charters Towers, Proserpine, Blackwater, Childers, Pittsworth, Chinchilla, Kingaroy and Roma.
Aldi: All stores will be closed on Christmas Day.
All stores will have reduced hours on Christmas Eve and will reopen on Boxing Day with the exception of a few in NSW.
All Aldi stores will be open on New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Day, most stores will open to different trading hours.
Aldi encourages consumers to check individual hours online.
Event Cinemas and Hoyts: All Event Cinemas and Hoyts locations are open for normal trading on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
On Christmas Day, Event Cinemas will be trading at limited locations from 3pm with the exception of George St in Sydney, which opens at 1pm. Other locations open are Kotara, Bondi Junction, Burwood, Hurstville, Macquarie, Liverpool, Top Ryde, Chermside, Pacific Fair, Garden City, Innaloo and Marion.
The majority of Hoyts sites are open throughout the country on Christmas Day. In QLD, all sites are open from 1pm except for Sunnybank, which is open at 10.30am.
In SA, all sites are open from 3pm, and in WA, Carousel and Millennium are open from 1pm and 3pm respectively.
In VIC, all locations except for Frankston and Watergardens will be open on Christmas Day.
In ACT, Woden is open from 3pm, the same time as NSW sites Bankstown, Blacktown, Broadway, Entertainment Quarter, Eastgardens and Wetherill Park. Other NSW locations including Charlestown, Chatswood Westfield, Erina and Warringah Mall are open from 2:30pm.
Big W: All Big W stores throughout the country will be open until Christmas Eve, and all will be closed on Christmas Day.
On Boxing Day, most stores are open throughout the country except Kingaroy in QLD.
On New Year's Day, all stores in NSW are closed. In QLD, all stores except for Big W Kingaroy are open. All the stores in the rest of the country are open.
Myer: All Myer stores are closed on Christmas Day.
All stores in WA and SA will be open from 8am-5.30pm on Christmas Eve, with WA stores open from 8am-6pm on Boxing Day and SA stores open from 9am-5pm.
In QLD, all stores are open till 6pm on Christmas Eve except for Mackay and Robina, which close at 5.30pm. On Boxing Day, all stores are open at 9am except for Cairns and Toowomba, which open at 8.30am and 8am respectively. All stores close at 6pm with the exception of Mackay at 4pm and Cairns at 5.30pm.
In NSW, all stores close at 6pm on Christmas Eve with all stores open by 9am. On Boxing Day, all stores are open at 7am with the exception of Dubbo and Wagga, which open at 8am. Sydney City will also be open from 5am. Stores have various closing hours, and consumers are advised to check online.
In ACT, all stores open at 9am on Christmas Eve with Belconnen closing at 5pm and Canberra City closing at 5.30pm. On Boxing Day both stores open at 7am and close at 7pm.
In Victoria there are various opening hours on Boxing Day with all stores open by 8am with the exception of Frankston, which is 9am. Most stores close at 6pm with the exception of Eastland (5.30pm), High point (5pm), Melbourne City (7pm)n Northland (9pm) and Werribee (5.30pm).
On Boxing Day, all stores operate at various times with all stores open by 8am and most stores closing by 9pm. Consumers are advised to look online.
In Tasmania, both stores open at 9am on Christmas Eve with Hobart City closing at 6pm and Launceston at 5.30pm. Both stores operate the same hours on Boxing Day, 7am-7pm.
Coles Liquor (Liquorland, FirstChoice and Vintage Cellars): All stores are closed nationally on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day all stores are open except Turramurra Plaza in NSW and Victoria Square in SA.
On New Year’s Day most stores are open, and consumers are advised to check local store details online.
BWS: All stores are closed on Christmas Day except for Boomerang Drive in NSW. Most stores in TAS, VIC and SA are open on Christmas Day. Please check local stores for details.
On Boxing Day all stores are open except for Coogee, Castle Hill, Leichhardt Marketplace and Marketplace Drive, North Sydney and Pymble in NSW. In QLD, Forest Lake, Coorparoo, Mission Beach, Parker Street and Burdekin Plaza are all closed on Boxing Day.
Canberra City in the ACT, Katanning in WA, Millicent in SA and Collins Square in VIC will all be closed on Christmas Day.