Target Closes Stores on Christmas Day, Reopens December 26

On December 24 Target confirmed that its stores would be closed on December 25 and would resume normal store operations on December 26. The company followed a common retail practice of closing on Christmas Day to allow employees time with family, a decision that affects store schedules and staffing needs across its network.

For team members and store leaders the confirmation provided clarity ahead of the holiday. Workers who would otherwise have been scheduled to work on Christmas Day could make plans knowing they would not be expected to staff stores on that date. At the same time managers and operations staff needed to finalize schedules for the days immediately before and after the holiday, and to address any paid time off or holiday pay questions that might arise among their teams.

The announcement came in the context of a consumer facing list of retailer holiday hours, but its implications are squarely workplace relevant. Retailers decisions about which holidays to close shape how hourly schedules are written, whether employees must use paid time off, and how stores arrange coverage for essential functions such as restocking and online order fulfillment on surrounding days. For Target team members this meant reviewing their posted schedules and checking with store leadership or the company intranet for guidance about pay rules and time off usage tied to the holiday closure.

Store and district leaders were also responsible for communicating any operational changes tied to the closure, including adjusted opening procedures on December 26 and staffing needs to handle post holiday traffic. While the closure removed the need to staff stores on Christmas Day itself, it increased the importance of planning for the immediate reopening period when many stores experience a surge in store traffic and online order activity.

The decision to close on Christmas Day underscores a broader retail pattern that prioritizes employee time with family on a major national holiday. For frontline workers the key practical steps after the announcement were to confirm individual schedules, verify whether paid time off or holiday pay applied in their case, and coordinate with managers about coverage and workload for the days that followed.