Aldi has become the latest retailer to announce that it’ll be closing all its stores across the UK on Boxing Day this year.
Christmas is always known to be one of the busiest periods of the year for the retail industry, and Boxing Day has a reputation for being the ultimate day for shopping deals and discounts in the UK, but this year, Aldi has made the decision to close all of its stores nationwide on this bank holiday.
The supermarket retailer says it wants to thank its colleagues colleagues, once again, “for all their hard work” throughout the year.
This means that all Aldi stores will be closed on 25 and 26 December.
Aldi is closing all its UK stores on Boxing Day again this year / Credit: Aldi
All stores will then reopen as usual on Friday 27 December, so customers can pick up all the essentials for their New Year celebrations.
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Opening hours at different Aldi stores across the UK will vary in the lead-up to Christmas, so it’s important to check the times for your local store, but the company has confirmed that most branches will be operating extended hours to “ensure customers can stock up ahead of the big day”.
Speaking on the decision to shut up shop on Boxing Day this year, Richard Thornton, who is the Communications Director at Aldi UK, said: “Christmas is such a special period for many of our colleagues, and by keeping our stores closed on Boxing Day, Aldi gives them more time to spend with their loved ones.”
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Stores will reopen as normal on Friday 27 December, in time for grabbing New Year essentials / Credit: Aldi
Mr Thornton said that, despite the Boxing Day closure, Aldi customers will have “plenty to look forward to” in the run-up to Christmas.
He said the retailer has some “exciting Christmas ranges” hitting the shelves very soon.
Aldi’s announcement of its Boxing Day closures comes after fellow retailer, Home Bargains, confirmed a couple of weeks back that it would, once again, be shutting UK stores on both Boxing Day and New Year’s Day again in 2024, just as it has done for several other years prior.
It’s expected that a handful of other retailers will make similar announcements over the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.
Featured Image – Aldi UK
Shopping
Major retailer Monki to close store in Manchester Arndale
Daisy Jackson
Monki, a popular fashion brand that’s owned by H&M, had announced it’s closing its Manchester store – and soon.
The high street brand is famed for selling bold, playful clothing at affordable prices.
It opened its glittering disco-inspired shop in the heart of the Manchester Arndale in 2018.
Shoppers will recognise the holographic arches at the entrance and the Monki brand name spelled out in lightbulbs overhead.
But this week, H&M confirmed that all seven Monki stores across the UK will close, either shutting them completely or merging them with Weekday, another of the retail giant’s brands.
Manchester is among the first casualties of this move, with signs in the window of the store confirming that a closing down sale will be live until 12 January.
At that point, the Manchester Monki store will close for good.
Also shutting will be Newcastle, with the fate of the five remaining shops – including one in Sheffield – not yet confirmed.
The statement from H&M read: “A limited number of Monki stores are intended to be transformed into multi-brand Weekday destinations, while the others are intended to be closed.
“The newly formed Weekday multi-brand destination will cater to customers’ high aesthetic standards while embracing their multitude of unique expressions.”
In a statement shared earlier this month, they added: “Being mindful about the changes this might entail for our colleagues; we look forward to this exciting new chapter on the way to something great.”
Monki will close in Manchester Arndale on 12 January.
The best picky bits and Christmas party food in M&S this year
Daisy Jackson
Can some scientist please explain why us Brits have such a compulsion to roll out the picky bits and party food (ESPECIALLY if it comes from M&S) as soon as there’s a vague sense of occasion?
Birthday party? Picky bits. BBQ season? Picky bits. Had a long day at work and can’t decide what to have for tea but definitely don’t want a Pot Noodle? Picky bits.
And when Christmas or New Year’s Eve rolls around, the urge to consume random little morsels of food intensifies.
Whether it’s British classics squashed down into tiny portions and jammed on a buffet table or fancy little appetisers you hand around a party, we just can’t get enough.
Which is why we’ve raided the shelves at M&S once again to bring you all the best picky bits and party food available for Christmas 2024.
As for prices, the more premium M&S Collection party food items are generally priced at £7.50, with the more standard range coming in at £5.50 each, and all available on a four-for-three offer.
And yes, you might end up spending an obscene amount of money on miniature food items that won’t do a single thing to quell an appetite, but my gosh, won’t you feel like a prim and proper princess when you slide those teeny weeny fish and chips in front of your guests.
Let’s begin.
Brits abroad
M&S party food 2024 – chicken shawarma and Middle Eastern flatbreadsM&S party food 2024 – patatas bravas stacks
M&S might be the most staunchly British institution of modern times, but us Brits also love nothing more than to lift the culinary expertise of other countries onto our own plates.
And this year is no exception – M&S has whipped up a whole host of party food inspired by international favourites.
From little potato stacks that pay homage to everyone’s favourite tapas dish, patatas bravas, to tiny chicken shawarma kebabs to Middle Eastern Flatbreads, if you want a little spice on your Christmas buffet, they’ve got it.
Well aren’t you a fancy pants?!
‘Ooooh, someone’s doing well’ comes the chorus of praise as you hand around your mini prawn thermidor (these tiny gold trays even have a cheddar cheese crumb on top).
‘Wow, that must’ve been a good Christmas bonus’ they say as they accept a mini coquille St Jacques, complete with extra-small shell.
If upper middle class was a nibble, it would probably look like these guys.
Little Britain
Mini scampi and chips, and miniature pies at M&SMini Yorkshire puddings and cheese and ham scones from M&S party food range
Imagine all your classic British dishes, pub food, Sunday dinners, comfort meals cooked by your mum – you picturing them? Okay, now imagine them again but really, really small.
Now you’ve got a good idea of the items in our next M&S party food category.
There are mini Yorkshire puddings filled with slow-cooked beef, red wine and mushroom jus, and a garlic and herb crumb.
There are neat little cheddar and ham scones, miniature pies filled with beef and ale or chicken and leek, and even picky bit-sized scampi and chips portions, complete with newspaper wrapping. Cute!
The classics
M&S prawn selectionM&S pigs in blankets and halloumi in blanketsM&S Smoked salmon appetisers
These are not just buffet food items, these are M&S buffet food items, and that means they come with a bit of pizzazz.
Yes, there are pigs in blankets, but there are also halloumi pigs in blankets (which they weirdly haven’t made vegetarian) served with a hot honey drizzle.
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We love a battered prawn on a party food selection and M&S has done a selection of tiger prawn nibbles – prawn baguette toasts, prawn and coconut bites, and prawn and potato lattice balls. The word prawn is starting to look weird.
There are also smoked salmon appetisers, where smoked salmon strips are rolled around a honey roast salmon mousse. Hope ya like very small fish!
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the M&S party food is discussed, because I’m pretty sure no one around that boardroom table is telling them ‘No, Arabella, that’s a silly idea’. Arabella does what she wants.
This year, she’s heard all the ‘girl dinner’ trends and gone ‘WE SHOULD MAKE A CHRISTMAS DIP’ – the result is a turkey feast dip topped with shredded turkey and bacon, cranberry sauce, cranberries and a stuffing crumb. WHY, ARABELLA?!
They’ve also brought back the novelty-shaped bao, this year in two festive shapes – penguins and polar bears.
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And of course you can still get miniature steak sandwiches and I don’t know why that makes me so uncomfortable, but it does.
A very yeehaw Christmas
M&S Mini beef burgersBuffalo chicken croquettes and New York deli spring rolls at M&S
Giddy up, cowboy, it’s time for the rootin’-tootin’ M&S party food show!
Everyone’s favourite fancy supermarket has gone stateside this year, drawing inspiration from the healthiest of nations… America.
There are Buffalo chicken croquettes, served with an extra Buffalo sauce dip, mini beef burgers (always the hardest thing to eat), and, weirdly, spring rolls inspired by a New York deli?
They’ve shoved salt beef and sauerkraut into a spring roll and then served it with a mustard and gherkin dip. You do you, M&S.
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Now you’re just showing off
M&S party food 2024 – the charcuter-tree. Credit: The Manc Group
You’re presenting your charcuterie on a flat board? Peasant.
Real fancy people present their cured meat and cheese selection in the shape of a Christmas tree (obviously) and M&S have got a build-you-own kit available for £25.
An extra shout-out to the security-locked Serrano ham joint, which came with its own block and knife, for another statuesque meat buffet option.
Emily Sergeant -
19th September 2024 
