Christmas inOttawa: what'sopen onChristmas Day

Christmas Day 2026 is Friday, December 25. Most stores in Ottawa are closed by law that day, because Ontario lists Christmas Day as a day when retail businesses must close. Exempt places may open: gas stations, nurseries, flower shops and garden centres, some small shops, and tourist areas set by a municipal by-law.

Boxing Day, Saturday, December 26, is a public holiday but not a retail closing day, so stores may open. Christmas Eve is not a closing day either. As of 2026-10-29, we could not confirm any business's 2026 holiday hours, including CF Rideau Centre and the Ottawa Christmas Market. Confirm with the business before you go.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both among Ontario's nine public holidays under the Employment Standards Act. A separate law, the Retail Business Holidays Act, makes retail businesses close on seven holidays: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Boxing Day and Christmas Eve are not on that list.

The province names these exemptions: shops under 2,400 square feet with three or fewer employees that sell only tobacco or tobacco articles, antiques, handicrafts or books; nurseries, flower shops and gardening centres; gas stations; and tourist areas set by municipal by-laws. The local municipality enforces the Act. Minimum fines are $500 for a first offence, $2,000 for a second and $5,000 for a third or later, and a store can be fined up to $50,000 or its gross sales for the holiday, whichever is greater.

We could not confirm 2026 Christmas Eve or Christmas Day hours for Real Canadian Superstore, Loblaws, Metro or any other grocery chain, so we do not say any of them will be open. A grocery store is a retail business, so expect most to be closed on December 25. The province's summary page does not cover food stores or pharmacies, and we could not open the full text of the Act on 2026-10-29. Check the store's own page or call ahead.

For the rest of the year, our grocery stores list ranks 149 Ottawa-area stores by public Google rating and review count.

We found no source that lists Ottawa restaurants open on Christmas Day. Our place data, pulled 2026-10-29, holds each restaurant's regular weekly hours where Google shows them, not holiday hours. A place that shows Friday hours in our lists may still close on December 25, so call before you go.

To build a short list of places to call, start with our restaurants list (1,171 ranked), or narrow it down: Chinese restaurants (105), Indian restaurants (81), shawarma (76) and coffee shops (135). Our methodology explains how each list is ranked.

CF Rideau Centre is at 50 Rideau Street. Its site lists regular hours of Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. On 2026-10-29 it did not show holiday hours for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's. As a retail mall it falls under the Christmas Day closing rule, so expect it to be closed on December 25.

Tanger Outlets Ottawa is at 8555 Campeau Drive in Kanata. We could not open its site on 2026-10-29, so we do not list its hours. Check both malls directly in December. Our malls list ranks 118 shopping centres in the area.

The Ottawa Christmas Market is held at Lansdowne Park. On 2026-10-29 its website did not show 2026 dates or hours that we could read, so we do not list them here. Check ottawachristmasmarket.com for this year's schedule and whether it opens on December 24, 25 or 26.

We could not open OC Transpo's service changes or Para Transpo holiday pages on 2026-10-29, so we have not confirmed Christmas Day 2026 bus, O-Train or Para Transpo service. Check octranspo.com closer to the date.

We also could not open ottawa.ca, so we have not confirmed garbage, recycling and green bin collection, pools, rinks or library closures over Christmas. Check the City and the Ottawa Public Library before you plan around them.

In Gatineau, the STO lists a special service on December 25 and sends riders to Plani-Bus for the schedule. We could not confirm Quebec store rules for December 24 to 26, so check Gatineau shops directly. More planning help is in our visit guide and our data page.

• Public holidays (Canada Revenue Agency). Checked 2026-10-29.
• Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Public holidays (Government of Ontario). Checked 2026-10-29.
• Retail business holidays (Government of Ontario). Checked 2026-10-29.
• CF Rideau Centre (Cadillac Fairview). Checked 2026-10-29.
• Jours fériés et services spéciaux (STO). Checked 2026-10-29.
• fromOttawa place data, pulled 2026-10-29. Checked 2026-10-29.