With the nation pausing to honour the contribution to public life made by Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, the trading hours of Australia’s largest supermarket chains and retailers will change from state to state.
The one-off national public holiday has caused headaches for businesses since its announcement last week.
If you find yourself unprepared for the National Day of Mourning to observe Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, don’t stress.
Many stores and supermarkets will operate in accordance with normal public holiday trading hours.
Read on for TND’s guide to retail trading hours for each state and territory for the Queen’s public memorial holiday.
Woolworths
Woolworths will keep most of its shops open across the country during the National Day of Mourning, with general trading hours unchanged in most states and territories, except for Western Australia and South Australia, which are subject to stricter public holiday trading hour laws.
SA stores open from noon and WA stores are able to trade between 11am and 5pm.
The supermarket giant advised the below are general indicators only, and may be subject to individual store opening and closing hours.
Woolworths encourages customers to check the opening hours of their local Woolworths by visiting woolworths.com.au/stores.
Aldi
As with Woolworths, the European retailer is trying to minimise confusion about opening hours in stores across Australia.
“Where Aldi stores currently trade later than 8pm, they will close at 8pm on Thursday, 22 September. Opening times will not be affected except in the cases of state-based restrictions,” an Aldi spokesperson told The New Daily.
SA and WA stores are affected by state-based public holiday restrictions.
Aldi encourages customers to check the trading hours of their local store here.
Coles
Coles has not released specific changes to trading hours in relation to the one-off public holiday, but advised most stores will keep trading.
A spokesperson from Coles told The New Daily the supermarket giant will apply usual public holiday trading hours in Victoria, New South Wales, ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
“In Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia, supermarket opening hours will be guided by state government guidelines in each jurisdiction,” they said.
To avoid disappointment, customers can check with their local store for individual trading hours.
Big W
Discount department store Big W will keep trading during the Queen’s day of mourning, with shops in WA and SA subject to later opening hours.
Shoppers visiting Big W during Thursday’s public holiday are encouraged to check the opening hours of their local store here.
Bunnings
All stores will trade during normal Thursday hours in all states and territories at Australia’s largest home hardware outlets, except in SA, Queensland and WA.
All WA stores will run on normal trading hours, except the Armadale stores, which will trade from 11am to 5pm.
Bunnings encourage customers to check the website for their local store’s trading hours.
