Supermarkets are shaking up their opening hours at the end of lockdown on the 2nd of December.

Some of the biggest high street retailers such as Waitrose, Primark, Aldi and M&S will be making changes to their opening hours as of December 2nd when England’s national lockdown ends.

The recent shift comes in a bid to ensure festive shoppers can get their Christmas gifts in time for the big day, as well as stop overcrowding in stores and maintain social distancing between fellow shoppers and staff.

M&S is opening 400 of their stores until midnight, with Aldi stating supermarkets will stay open until 11pm from December 21st to December 23rd.

Waitrose said smaller shops will stay open until 11pm on December 21st, 22nd and 23rd, while larger branches will close at 10pm.

Meanwhile, Primark mentions it will operate longer when non-essential retail is allowed to open again.

A spokeswoman for Primark said: “Associated British Foods Plc are calling for extended trading hours for Primark stores once they re-open in December.”

Sacha Berendji, M&S’s Retail, operations and property director said: “We want our customers to be able to shop with confidence this Christmas, which means supporting social distancing in our stores and minimal queueing outside as the weather gets colder.

“To help with this, we’ll be operating our longest ever opening hours just before Christmas.

“Along with the wider industry, we continue to ask for Sunday trading hours to be extended to help us increase our capacity to serve everyone safely this festive season.”

Are you a night owl when it comes to Christmas shopping? Let us know in the comments below!

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