All the stores closed on Boxing Day 2019 including Aldi, Boots, John Lewis, M&S, Waitrose, Lidl

On Christmas Day, it’s pretty much a given that most of us are filling ourselves with food and then slumping on the sofa watching TV’s festive offerings.

But what about Boxing Day? Does life pretty much get back to normal, or are many things still on an extended shutdown?

There are the Boxing Day sales of course – a well established tradition in the UK.

But not everything springs back into life.

As Boxing Day is a bank holiday, that means that banks are closed (though you can still use ATMs to withdraw and deposit money).

Royal Mail doesn’t do any deliveries on Boxing Day so if that card or gift hadn’t arrived in the post by Christmas Eve, there’s no chance of it coming the day after Christmas Day.

Train operators including West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast and Cross Country will not be running any services on Boxing Day, while Chiltern Railways has only one limited service between London Marylebone and Oxford Parkway.

And not all the shops and supermarkets are open either. Some of them are closed with staff taking a well-earned rest so they can enjoy Christmas too.

Here are all the shops we know about that will be CLOSED on Boxing Day this year.

Aldi

Aldi announced that all its stores would be closed on Boxing Day this year, as they were in 2018.

That means you won’t be able to pop into your nearest Aldi to grab essentials or rummage in the SpecialBuys section on either Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

Stores will be open as usual from 8am on Friday December 27.

The German budget chain opened its first UK supermarket in the Stechford area of Birmingham, back in April 1990. Today there are 30 stores in the Birmingham area and 800 more across the rest of the UK.

Lidl

All of Lidl’s supermarkets outside the M25 will be closed on Boxing Day.

They are also closed on Christmas Day, giving staff a two-day break, before reopening at normal hours on Friday December 27.

There are around a dozen Lidl stores in the Birmingham area including branches in Bordesley Green, Balsall Heath, Acocks Green, Yardley, Erdington and Winson Green.

Home Bargains

Home Bargains will also be keeping the shutters down on Boxing Day “to ensure hard working staff are able to enjoy the Christmas break.”

The discount retailer will be letting its 22,000 staff have an extra day off.

The day isn’t taken out of holiday allowance, meaning workers still get paid while they spend time with their families.

This is the second year Home Bargains has shut on December 26. So it too will have a two-day closure including Christmas Day, resuming trading on December 27.

Home Bargains has four stores in Birmingham – in Perry Barr, Harborne, Stechford and Northfield – and around 20 in the West Midlands as a whole.

Find your nearest branch here

M&S

Marks and Spencer will be opening its bigger stores on Boxing Day, but not the smaller M&S branches that focus primarily on food.

So, in Birmingham, that means the store on Birmingham New Street station concourse will be shut on December 26, along with the Simply Food branch in High Street, Harborne; the store in Selly Oak Shopping Park; and the M&S Foodhall in St Mary’s Row, Moseley.

Open on Boxing Day will be the Marks and Spencer stores in High Street, Birmingham; One Stop Shopping Park, Perry Barr; High Street, Longbridge; and Astle Retail Park, West Bromwich.

The M&S store within Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and all those at BP petrol stations will all be open on Boxing Day too.

John Lewis

Department store chain John Lewis closes all its branches on Boxing Day every year.

That includes the 250,000 sq ft flagship store that opened at Grand Central in Birmingham in 2015 and is the biggest branch outside London.

The retailer has long said this is to give their hard-working partners a rest over the festive holidays.

Last year, shoppers were able to take part in the store’s clearance sale online from Christmas Eve – so keep an eye on the website if you want to grab any bargains.

Waitrose

Waitrose is owned by the John Lewis Partnership and says the majority of its stores will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with the exception of those at Welcome Break motorway service stations and Shell forecourts (a few operate 24 hours).

In the Birmingham area, there are Waitrose supermarkets at Hall Green, Sutton Coldfield and Solihull, along with one at Hopwood Park services by junction 2 of the M42 and another at Stourbridge.

Find your local branch here

Boots

Some branches of Boots will be closed on Boxing Day.

Birmingham stores not opening on December 26 include those in New Street, Brindleyplace and Birmingham New Street station concourse.

Branches that are open include High Street and Bullring.

Find your nearest branch here

Wickes

DIY store Wickes will also close all of its branches on December 26 so staff can have a two-day break with family and friends.

However, its Showroom Design team will still be available by phone from 11am to 5pm on Boxing Day through the customer service helpline.

There are 230 Wickes stores in the UK. Birmingham branches can be found in Perry Barr, Handsworth, Hall Green, Stirchley and Sutton Coldfield, with others nearby in Tamworth, Brierley Hill and Wolverhampton.

Find your nearest Wickes store here

Homebase

Homebase is the latest store to announce plans to close on Boxing Day.

The news came after research carried out on behalf of Homebase showed that 92 per cent of consumers supported the decision to keep the store closed on December 26.

Unsurprisingly, 100 per cent of retail staff agreed.

Damian McGloughlin, Homebase chief executive, said: “The lead-up to Christmas is always one of the busiest times for retailers, with in-store and support teams all working hard together to deliver for customers as they get ready for Christmas.

“For the first time this year and as a huge thank-you to our team, all Homebase stores will be closed until December 27, giving everyone an extremely well-deserved extra day’s break – however they wish to spend it.

“It’s great to see the whole country getting behind the move for retailers to give their teams this extra day off.”