Trader Joe's Confirms Easter 2026 Open Hours, With One Maine Exception

Brunch traffic surged through Trader Joe's freezer aisles and bakery sections Easter Sunday as nearly 647 locations held to regular hours, continuing a policy the company has maintained across three consecutive Easters. The sole exception: Store #519 in Portland, Maine, which stayed dark all day under a state law barring any retailer with more than 5,000 square feet of selling space from opening on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The company's official announcements page was blunt: "All Trader Joe's stores will be open REGULAR HOURS on Sunday, April 5th. (Except store #519 Portland, Maine, which will be closed all day.)"

At the other 646-plus stores, April 5 ran like a heavy weekend shift with a holiday overlay. Center-of-plate items cleared out early, with hams, lamb, and specialty desserts leading the morning rush; frozen appetizers and prepared sides followed as afternoon shoppers assembled Easter dinners. Captains who staffed up deli and front-end registers before the morning surge fared better than stores that opened at a standard Sunday pace.

The financial stakes were concrete. Trader Joe's reportedly pays crew an extra $10 per hour for Sunday and holiday work, on top of a base wage Glassdoor placed at an average of roughly $18 per hour as of early 2026, with the range running to $30.15 for experienced crew. A six-hour Easter shift at the premium rate added $60 in take-home pay, which helped fill most schedules without mandatory coverage.

Crew who wanted the day off had options. Trader Joe's deposits between 3.6% and 7.5% of wages, scaled by tenure, into PTO accounts that accumulate to roughly five to ten days per year and never expire. Shift swaps, the more common route, required coordination through store scheduling before the deadline each Captain set for the week.

The Maine closure had nothing to do with Trader Joe's discretion. Maine Title 17, §3204(2)(HH) prohibits large-format retailers from operating on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Most of the state's Sunday retail restrictions for large stores were lifted in the late 1980s, but the three-holiday carve-out survived intact. Hannaford and Walmart close on the same basis. Lawmakers have advanced at least one repeal bill, which cleared the legislature's Committee on Housing and Economic Development, but the statute remains in effect.

The 2026 policy matched 2024 and 2025 exactly. With the chain at roughly 647 U.S. locations and adding more than 20 stores this year, the footprint of each holiday call grows larger every cycle.