# What was open Christmas in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047 "2008-12-29T05:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/1 "2008-12-29T05:56:39Z")
Excluding gas stations, movie theaters, and public safety places like hospitals of course. In my hometown of 8000 people nothing. You had to drive 25 miles to even find anything open, and that was a Safeway open for five hours. In Tacoma, where I live, scattered drug and grocery stores were open. There were several bars open (especially at night) and some restaurants. Seattle has lots more businesses open–from asian restaurants to Jewish gift shops to oddly enough, a record store called Everyday Music. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/2 "2008-12-29T06:07:34Z")
The Chinese restaurant across the street, thankfully. We did Christmas lunch this year instead of dinner; by 7pm, I was getting hungry. Had that not been open, I may have actually had to _cook something_! ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/3 "2008-12-29T06:58:30Z")
This may be a stretch, but I’m guessing there were some churches open that day. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/4 "2008-12-29T07:20:09Z")
Walgreens, and they were doing a brisk business. I was there buying cough medicine. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/5 "2008-12-29T11:33:06Z")
I really can’t think of anything. I went for a run in the morning around my town and a walk in the evening on a slightly different route and everything was shut. It was kind of eerrie walking down my main high street and everything being closed and empty. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/6 "2008-12-29T12:14:17Z")
Lucky for me, there was a good breakfast place open, run by a nice family of non-christians. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/7 "2008-12-29T12:37:45Z")
The pub. It was very busy and I got rather drunk. A couple of the local corner shops were open for a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/8 "2008-12-29T12:40:43Z")
I noticed one grocery store open as we drove to my brother’s place - there may have been others. Convenience stores and the big chain drug stores were open also, but I think that was it. I remember the one Christmas Day we were driving I-95 north from Florida to Maryland. No place open to eat at all! We subsisted on cheese-n-crackers from gas stations. That’s when we learned never to drive any distance on Dec 25. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/9 "2008-12-29T12:44:45Z")
7-11 was open, and good thing, too. I needed a can of chicken broth. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/10 "2008-12-29T12:48:51Z")
Walgreens, CVS, some Kmarts, I think some Meijers, Chinese restaurants (fa ra ra ra ra), Denny’s, Waffle House. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/11 "2008-12-29T14:33:07Z")
Two Chinese restaurants. No grocery stores. My roommate and I ended up making cookies with bread flour since we were out of regular flower – bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/12 "2008-12-29T14:37:39Z")
AI walked up and down my city’s main street, and was surprised at how many stores were opened. Not only the new 7-11, MickeyD’s and Dunkies, but the Spanish CD store, the bakery and the Dollar Store. ---
**Author:** ![CAT\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/13 "2008-12-30T02:20:49Z")
Other than the things you already mentioned, I did see a few Video Stores(opened at about 5pm), and a laundromat that were opened. Oh ya, I did see one bigger restaurant opened too. They had a Christmas Day buffet going on. This was in a town near us, pop. 30,000. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/14 "2008-12-30T02:38:24Z")
Some convenience stores and Walgreens, that was it. It’s the only day of the year, for us at least, when Wal-Mart closes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/15 "2008-12-30T05:31:35Z")
A couple of local convenience stores (Stewarts and Chases). My mother was making potato salad for a Christmas supper and found the potatoes she had were spoiled. So I had to go out and find a place that sold potatoes on Christmas morning. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/16 "2008-12-30T14:14:44Z")
Walgreens was it: thankfully, ours is one of the 24 hour locations. Business was good when my better half went for ice. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/17 "2008-12-30T16:39:21Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > This may be a stretch, but I’m guessing there were some churches open that day. Excluded in the OP. Oddly enough, none of the churches here had any late services on Christmas Eve. **DesertRoomie** had to work until 9pm that night, and she was interested in attending a midnight service. We drove to Waffle House for a bite to eat, and back home via different routes to go past the major churches in the area, and every one was dark – nobody there, even at the big evangelical church. I said the Mormon temple or Catholic church has _got_ to have a late service, but both were about five miles away and she didn’t want to drive that far. She watched the Pope’s broadcast instead. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/18 "2008-12-31T00:17:56Z")
Evverything. It was just another Thursday in Japan from a business standpoint. Now this week, smaller businesses are closing to prepare for the new year. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-open-christmas-in-your-area/479047/19 "2008-12-31T00:25:31Z")
There was almost nothing open in Birmingham! I was stunned by just how shut down it was. We had planned to do the Christmas Day dinner at Chinese and it took us forever to find one open, and we had to go over the mountain to find it. I really thought more would be open and wonder if more things were closed this year than previous because I’ve never seen it like that before.