Australia Day is observed every year by people living in the country and those who have left to live abroad. The Commonwealth nation’s holiday celebrates the date the First Fleet landed in the country in 1788, leaving to Australia’s development as a new nation. This year will mark the 231st anniversary of the fleet’s arrival with celebrations taking place across the country. With many events focusing heavily on food and drink, will shops be open on Australia Day?
Will shops be open on Australia Day?
Australia Day is a national holiday, meaning people will be given a guilt-free day off.
This year’s celebrations are taking place on a Saturday, so the customary bank holiday will instead fall on the following Monday.
Thankfully for those in need of some last minute food and drink, shops will be open.
Most Aldi, Woolworths and Coles shops will be open, albeit not necessarily on normal hours.
For Monday, January 28, some Coles, Aldi and Woolworths stores will be closed or operating on fewer opening hours, so it is worth checking with any local stores.
For bottle shops, however, services will be operating on normal weekend hours, with BWS and Liquorland stores all open, and Dan Murphy’s operating from 9am to 7pm.
For those with planned DIY for their day off, Bunnings stores will be trading as normal across the country.
IKEA stores will be opening from around 9am to 10am on Monday, January 28, and closing around 6pm.
People hoping for a shopping spree at a local Westfields or even the Chadstone Shopping Centre will be in luck, as Westfields will run on their Sunday hours, and Chadstone will be open from 10am until 6pm.
Select local shops will likely choose their own hours on the day.
This could mean your local newsagents may be closed for the day or closing a couple of hours earlier.
Other businesses such as restaurants will likely remain open for normal trading but could change their times to Sunday hours if they choose, so it is worth checking if you fancy going out for dinner.
Australia-based post offices will be closed one the day, so no post will be delivered or picked up.
Other public services will be running on reduced service or Sunday/public holiday timetable, including trains and buses.
For Saturday however, public transport will be scheduled as normal.