Which stores will be open or closed on Easter Sunday 2026? Here's the full list

Major national retailers including Target (all stores), Costco, Sam's Club, Macy's, T.J. Maxx/HomeGoods/Marshalls, Kohl's and Aldi will be closed on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026. Walmart, the Kroger family of stores, CVS, Walgreens, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and many big-box and fast-food chains (McDonald's, Starbucks, Wendy's, Taco Bell, etc.) will remain open, often with reduced or location-specific hours. Portfolio exposure to retail hours/foot-traffic on that date may vary by chain and local store-level pharmacy hours; verify hours at individual locations.

Analysis

Holiday openings concentrate last‑mile and impulse spending into a smaller set of footprints — the net is not just higher Sunday comps for open retailers, it’s operational leverage. Stores that remain open (WMT, KR, CVS, SBUX, DG) disproportionately capture urgent grocery, pharmacy and low‑ticket F&B sales that have >50% higher transaction frequency on holiday Sundays; a 1–2% Easter uplift in same‑store sales for these chains can translate into outsized weekly margin upside because staffing is largely fixed for the day and basket sizes skew smaller but more frequent.

Closed big‑box competitors (TGT, COST, BBY) create a two‑day timing distortion: demand is either reallocated to open peers or delayed into Monday/early week fulfillment, pressuring online pickup and returns flows. That shift increases variable costs for open retailers (overtime, gig fulfilment fees) but also raises average transaction throughput that benefits high‑turn, convenience‑oriented models (WMT grocery + fuel; CVS pharmacy) while leaving warehouse‑centric models (Costco membership weekend events) exposed to missed incremental impulse spend.

Tactically, this is a near‑term (days→weeks) reallocation trade rather than a structural thesis — expect the signal to wash out within 7–14 days as buying patterns normalize, but use corporate commentary and weekly comps as catalysts. Tail risks that would reverse the setup: unusually poor weather lowering foot traffic, membership‑led reversion (Costco/Membership loyalty prompting a Monday surge), or labor headlines that change store hours unexpectedly. Monitor weekly comps and management commentary within 3–10 trading days post‑Easter for confirmations or reversals.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Pair trade (near term, 1–4 weeks): Long WMT equity (or buy a 6‑week WMT 1–2% ITM call spread) and short TGT equity (or buy a 6‑week TGT 1–2% OTM put). Rationale: reallocation of convenience/grocery spend to Walmart while Target is closed. Risk/Reward: defined risk if using spreads; target 2:1 reward if WMT outperforms TGT by 3%+ over the window. Stop‑loss: 5% on equity leg or cut spreads at 50% premium loss.
• Grocery pair (tactical, 2–6 weeks): Long KR (Kroger) shares or 1‑month call spread and buy a cheap, time‑limited COST put (1‑month) to express capture of open‑store grocery demand vs closed‑warehouse cadence. Rationale: Kroger captures immediate grocery inflows; Costco’s closure creates near‑term comp headwind. Risk/Reward: limited premium risk on options; aim for asymmetric payoff where a 2–4% move in relative performance yields 2–4x option premium.
• Pharmacy / F&B quick‑gamma trade (holiday weekend, days): Buy short‑dated CVS calls (1–2 weeks) or SBUX call spread ahead of weekend to capture pharmacy fills and coffee takeaway volume; size as a small, event‑driven allocation. Rationale: pharmacies/coffee have higher conversion on open holidays. Risk/Reward: high‑probability small payout; cap loss to premium paid, target 3:1 R/R if weekend comps print above consensus.
• Convenience tilt (2 weeks): Long DG (Dollar General) vs short BBY (Best Buy) — express consumer shift to low‑ticket, convenience purchases on holiday Sunday. Rationale: BBY closure reduces foot traffic for discretionary small electronics; DG captures immediates. Risk/Reward: equity pair; target relative outperformance of 2–3% with stop‑loss 6% absolute on either leg.