Stores and Subways on Christmas & New Year's 2013

NK with holiday decorations!

(EDIT: blog article from 2014, click here for updated information) So far I've covered restaurants and museums during the holidays... now on to stores and public transportation! Stores and boutiques all, of course, have their own individual opening hours. But you can generally say that they close early on December 24th & 31st and are closed on December 25th and January 1st. There are always exceptions to the rule! Here are the special holiday opening hours for some of the larger department stores and shopping centers. Take a look at their websites for information about other specific dates.

• NK department store: open from 10am to 9pm on the days leading up to Christmas. 10am to 2pm on December24th, closed on December 25th, open from 10am to 5pm to December 31st and closed on January 1st.
• Åhlens City department store: open from 10am to 10pm on the days leading up to Christmas. 10am to 2pm on December24th, closed on December 25th, open from 10am to 6pm to December 31st and closed on January 1st.
• Mood shopping center: 10am to 2pm on December24th, closed on December 25th, open from 10am to 5pm to December 31st and closed on January 1st.
• Gallerian shopping center:  open from 10am to 8pm on the days leading up to Christmas. 10am to 2pm on December24th, closed on December 25th, open from 11am to 5pm to December 31st and closed on January 1st.
• Sturegallerian shopping center: open from 10am to 8pm on the days leading up to Christmas. 10am to 2pm on December24th, closed on December 25th, open from 10am to 2pm to December 31st and closed on January 1st.
• Skrapan shopping center: open from 10am to 8pm on the days leading up to Christmas. 10am to 2pm on December24th, closed on December 25th, open from 10am to 4pm to December 31st and closed on January 1st.
• Barkarby Outlets: closed on December 24th, 25th, 31st and January 1st.
• Systembolaget (state run liquor stores): They are closed on Sundays, December 24th, 25th and 26th. On December 31st they close at 2pm and are completely closed on January 1st. So... plan your shopping wisely!

The days in between Christmas and New Year's are called mellandagarna ("middle days") and are some of the biggest shopping days of the year. This is due to the sales! Keep your eyes open for signs saying rea ("sale") or mellandagsrea ("middle day sale"). Buying electronics is especially popular during these days.

Public transportation runs a little differently during the holidays... several days on a Saturday schedule (less frequently) or Sunday schedule (even less frequently). Of specific interest is the night schedule for the subways. Here are the subway's hours on specific days:

• December 24th- 10 minute traffic until 3pm, half hour traffic in the evening and no traffic at night.
• December 25th- "Sunday schedule" starting at 6am, including the night (25-26th).
• December 26th- "Sunday schedule" all day, however no traffic at night (26-27th).
• December 31st- "Saturday schedule" all day and all night (31-1st).
• January 1st- Regular "Sunday schedule". 

One note for busses: they cordon offthe area around Slussen from motor vehicle traffic starting at 8:30pm on December 31st (until after midnight). This is because of the fireworks and that people tend to congregate there. This means that several bus lines going through Slussen will be rerouted. If you are out at night and there are no subways and you don't want to deal with busses... you can take a taxi. But be aware of which taxi you take! We recommend Taxi Stockholm. If you are staying at the Rival Hotel, contact us if you need help in organizing a taxi. It is notoriously hard to get a taxi late on New Year's Eve and the taxi companies don't accept pre bookings on this date... so you might want to plan on walking or taking the subway (just in case).