The vast majority of major retailers are closed on Christmas. So what’s open?
Some hours may vary so call ahead of time:
Walgreens / Duane Reade - 24-hour locations are open; most stores open 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Rite Aid - 24-hour locations are open; or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
CVS - 24-hour locations are open; or 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Albertson’s - Open on Christmas
7-Eleven - Always open, 24 hours
Starbucks - Open Christmas Day
Denny’s - The restaurant chain will be open Christmas Day. Hours will vary.
McDonald’s - Most locations open Christmas
Circle K - Stores will be open on Christmas Day, with most operating with regular hours.
QuikTrip - Stores will be open Christmas Day, with most operating with regular hours.
Retailers like Walmart, Target, Kmart, Costco, and Best Buy won’t be open. Banks are closed.
For Christmas Eve only:
7-Eleven: Open 24 hours
Albertsons: Open until 9 p.m.
CVS: Open until 10 p.m. (except 24-hour stores)
Publix: Open until 7 p.m.
Rite Aid: Open until 7 p.m. (except 24-hour stores)
Target: Open until 10 p.m.
Trader Joe’s: Open until 6 p.m.
Walgreens: Open until midnight (except 24-hour stores)
Walmart: Open 6 a.m. - 6 p.m
Whole Foods: Open until 7 p.m.
Kmart - Open until 10 p.m. Christmas Eve
Kroger - Close at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve
Target - Open until 10 p.m.
Lowes Foods - Open until 6 p.m.
Costco - Until 5 p.m.
Toys-R-Us / Babies-R-Us - Open until 10 p.m.
Macy’s - Open until 6 p.m.
JC Penny - Open until 6 p.m.
Sears - Open until 10 p.m.
Best Buy - Open until 6 p.m.
Many banks are CLOSED on Christmas Eve, while some close early.
Here’s some of the banks open on Christmas Eve
Bank of the West
BB&T
BBVA Compass - closes 1 p.m. Christmas Eve
KeyBank
M&T Bank
Regions Bank
Santander Bank- all branches closed at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve
SunTrust Bank
TD Bank
U.S. Bank - some branches close early
Wells Fargo - some branches close early
Associated Press - NORAD ’tracks’ Santa’s journey across globe
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Volunteers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command are pretending to monitor Santa Claus as he makes his storybook Christmas Eve flight. So far, NORAD says it used the heat signature from Rudolph’s nose to “track” St. Nick over spots ranging from Australia to South America and on to the United States.
Technology and social media have become an important part of the U.S. and Canadian military tradition, and NORAD Tracks Santa has already attracted around 1.6 million Facebook “likes.”
The volunteers on Wednesday were answering phone calls and emails from children and posting updates on the mythical journey to Facebook, Twitter and www.NORADSanta.org.
The 59-year-old program now has a control center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, and it generates enough statistics, anecdotes and stories to fill a sleigh:
— HOW IT WORKS: Kids can call 877-HI-NORAD or email [email protected] on Christmas Eve. A volunteer checks a big-screen computer monitor and passes along Santa’s location. Updates are posted at noradsanta.org, facebook.com/noradsanta and twitter.com/NoradSanta. The volunteers will keep answering questions through 3 a.m. MST on Christmas Day.
— LATEST MOVEMENTS: NORAD says it has most recently spotted Santa over Akron, Ohio, and that he’s delivered more than 5 billion gifts so far.
— SO FAR THIS YEAR: NORAD Tracks Santa had around 1.6 million Facebook likes as of Wednesday night. Twitter followers stood around 158,000. Initial website visits weren’t available yet.
— AND LAST YEAR: The website attracted more than 19.5 million unique visitors in December, the Facebook page drew 1.45 million “likes” and the Twitter feed had 146,000 followers. Volunteers took 117,000 phone calls and answered 9,600 emails. Another 800 inquiries came in via OnStar. The Facebook likes, Twitter followers, phone calls and OnStar questions were all record highs for NORAD Tracks Santa.
— GROWING FAST: Visits to the website, which was launched in 1997, peaked at 22.3 million in 2012 before dropping to about 19.6 million last year. The reason isn’t clear, but Maj. Beth Castro, a NORAD spokeswoman, said the website might not have been able to accommodate all the traffic.
— PHONE CALLS: Phone calls rose from about 74,000 in 2009 to more than 117,000 in 2013.
— SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook “likes” grew from 1 million in 2011 to 1.45 million last year; Twitter followers were up from 101,000 to more than 146,000.
— NEW THIS YEAR: The website has an animated elf named Radar. “Radar” was the favorite in a vote on Facebook, beating out “DARON,” which is NORAD spelled backward, and “Echo L. Foxtrot,” which uses the military phonetic alphabet to spell out “elf.” NORAD Tracks Santa also has a new mobile version of its website for smartphones.
— WHAT'S NORAD? The joint U.S.-Canada command is responsible for defending the skies and monitoring the sea approaches for both nations. Its control room was originally inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs in a shelter designed to withstand a nuclear attack. The control room is now at Peterson Air Force Base, also in Colorado Springs.
