Photo: Canva
September 20, 2023
Should Stores Close on Christmas Eve?
Altar’d State will be closing all of its stores on Christmas Eve for the first time this year. Stand Out For Good, Inc., the parent of the “faith-based” women’s fashion boutique, said that although December 24 is one of its busiest days, having associates spend time with family outweighs the benefits.
“It’s been a longtime goal of mine to close the stores on Christmas Eve,” said Aaron Walters, chairman and CEO of Stand Out For Good, in a statement. “Our team works so hard to make the Christmas season happen, and they deserve to rest and relax at home with their families.”
The Knoxville, Tennessee-based company’s other owned stores will also be closed. It operates 118 Altar’d State stores, 32 Arula boutiques, 10 Vow’d boutiques, nine AS Revival stores, and seven Tullabee boutiques in 38 states.
Stand Out For Good does not sell Christian apparel but said it has a “faith-based approach” to retailing with its flagship Altar’d State chain promising to deliver “a fashion experience on a mission to change the world for the better.” On Mondays, 10% of proceeds support nonprofits across the country.
“We are faith-based. It doesn’t matter what your background is, where are you from, or what your beliefs are,” to work or shop at Altar’d State, Walters told WWD in 2019 when Altar’d State’s Roosevelt Field mall store in New York opened. “But we do run our business on some simple principles — treat others how you want to be treated and give much help to others. We put love into our business.”
In recent years, many chains, including Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have closed stores on Thanksgiving in part to limit crowds amid the pandemic but also as a show of appreciation for associates. Target announced in 2021 that it was permanently closing its locations on Thanksgiving.
REI has earned wide media attention for its move since 2015 to close stores on Black Friday and encourage consumers to take time to explore the outdoors.
On Christmas Eve, stores are often packed with last-minute shoppers, but most retailers, including grocers, close early, typically 6 or 7 p.m. Costco, IKEA, and Home Depot stand out for closing locations at 5 p.m.
Discussion Questions
Does the move by Altar’d State to close on Christmas Eve hold more positives than negatives for the faith-based chain? Would many chains engender enough goodwill from associates and consumers to offset the profits of closing on Christmas Eve?
Poll
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Georganne Bender
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Cathy Hotka
Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
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This is really a matter for individual retailers but given how important Christmas Eve is for last minute shopping, I don’t see much prospect of this becoming widespread. Actions like closing early on Christmas Eve are much more feasible. And perhaps closing on the day after Christmas Day is also an option to give people more time with family and friends. By European standards the US has a very short Christmas period; in the UK the day after Christmas Day is Boxing Day which is a national holiday – all retailers used to open on that day for the post-Christmas sales, but now many including Marks & Spencer remain closed.
I admire the decision this retailer is making for the sake of their staff. Closing stores on Christmas Eve is definitely counter-intuitive from a sales perspective, but most admirable from a employee well-being perspective. It’s refreshing to see a retailer put the well-being of their employees ahead of sales, and there’s no doubt that this will engender loyalty and commitment by their employees. But while I do expect to see more mindfulness on the part of retailers about their employees, I don’t expect to see many other closing on Christmas Eve – a busy, and important selling day for virtually every retailer.
If not completely closed, certainly after midday. We tend to forget that those store associates are the same people who, when they are not working are shopping, celebrating, relaxing (if they have time) just like everyone else and furthermore may observe the Christmas holiday from a religious POV. Once the general consuming public is conditioned to the fact that the stores will be closed, ‘last minute shopping’ will happen 1,440 minutes earlier. Zero sum game.
You’re in business to serve customers first. Imagine if this were a Muslim chain closing for Ramadan – I think the comments would be very different. Customer is #1.
As Tom’s piece states, “stores are often packed on Christmas Eve”, and for those shoppers, me included, who may need to pick up some last minute items, it is a relief when to doors remain open. I think there could be a happy compromise with stores closing early, say by 6:00 or 7:00 PM.
Closing on Christmas Eve is on brand for Alter’d State, but for other retailers it’s just too big of a day to not be open.
Christmas Eve isn’t Thanksgiving and closing the store entirely is a retailer’s personal choice. On Christmas Eve, closing early is enough.
Most retailers should be open on Christmas Eve for last-minute shoppers. However, it doesn’t mean that the retailer can’t have some latitude to reduce evening hours. Shortened hours should also be considered for New Year’s Eve as each retail team member has families and holiday obligations.
My past job at Kohl’s entailed merchandising of jewelry, cosmetics, accessories and sleepwear. It doesn’t get any more last-minute than that, and stores are used to seeing procrastinators wandering the aisles looking for anything to buy. The vast majority of stores will continue to stay open on Christmas Eve, although closing in the early evening is certainly appropriate. It’s far different from Thanksgiving closures, which have thankfully become the norm again after the years-long “race to the bottom” that did nothing for sales volume or employee morale.
This makes sense from a brand perspective, but it will certainly cost them sales. The customers that shop them because of their religious ethos will appreciate it, but there are likely many shoppers who would be buying from them that are not thinking about their religious association. So, it’s really up to each retailer to decide if it’s worth it.
I can only applaud this decision. It’s odd that Christmas shopping starts earlier and earlier…days, weeks, months…and yet those last couple of hours are still considered make or break. We all know how grueling the last 6 weeks before Christmas can be. A couple of hours to a full day off for retail employees and their families doesn’t feel like a big ask. In fact, it feels totally in keeping with the season.
It depends on whether that retailer sells items that are likely to be on a kid’s Christmas list. Can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard of kids either keeping their ‘Santa list’ secret, or changing it at the last minute, and parents having to scramble on Christmas Eve as a result. But given we have such a last minute/just in time culture, my expectation is that this won’t catch on across retailers. It will vary by category.
Nice gesture and I hope other stores follow their lead.
But I doubt that will happen.
Store associates everywhere are applauding this move. Neil is probably right that other retailers may not choose to close on Christmas Eve, but the associate experience is important, and others may consider it.
Isn’t our love-hate relationship with capitalism wonderful? So, which is it? Should we favor the mental well being and work-life balance of employees at the expense of last minute buyers or or should we favor one of our most important economic engines, consumerism, even if it means we keep some people from their families on some nights, weekends and holidays? This is where compromise flexes its muscle over polarization. I’m happy Altar’d State made a business decision that is consistent with their values and happy that having raised two kids I always seemed to find a pharmacy that was open 24 hours. And, having worked my way through college, I remain eternally grateful to the 24X7 life that gave me the opportunity to work nights and weekends so I could attend college during the day.
For Altar’d State itself I see nothing but upside. Sure, they might miss a few sales, but how much more “on brand” can they get? As to the second question, for most retailers greed trumps goodwill – especially associate good will – almost every time.
Altar’d State – it’s nice to see piety doesn’t preclude having a sense of humor – is free to do as they wish, but no, we’re not going to see any kind of “movement” toward doing this. To me it’s not necessarily (just) profits: the profits exist because people want to shop that day; this idea puts the (perceived) needs of the staff completely ahead of customers.
Something in life and business are more important than the bottom line.
Closing on Christmas Eve aligns with Altr’d State values. This is a good proxy for other retailers too. Does closing on key holidays align with your values (faith based or employees based). If so, closing clan be perceived as more authentic and likely garner good will from consumers.
However, for some retailers putting a stake in the ground and attaching to any one holiday could be challenging, especially for those with broad consumer base. This is where a values alignment can be especially helpful.
Still, retailers exist to make money. For certain front line retail employees would appreciate a rare closing to spend time with family and friends but for some retailers, store closings will be an opportunity to win new customers.