Popular supermarket with over 180 stores to shut for THREE days over Christmas

A POPULAR supermarket with over 180 branches across Ireland is set to close their stores on certain days over the festive period.

Lidl Ireland will pull down the shutters on all of its shops on Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day.

The retailer, which has over 180 stores across the Republic of Ireland, will close their stores early on some evenings over the festive season.

Lidl stores are usually open from 8am to 10pm during the week and 9am to 9am on weekends.

But over the festive period, the popular supermarket also offers extended hours to ensure customers have plenty of time to prepare for the big day.

And they will shorten the hours on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day to ensure staff have a chance to take a break over the festive period.

Lidl stores are set to close on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day.

On Christmas Eve, they will open up at 8am as normal but close slightly earlier at 6pm.

And after closing on December 25 and 26, stores will return to their normal opening hours until New Year’s Eve.

On December 31, Lidl shops will open at 8am as normal and remain open until 6pm.

All Lidl stores will then be closed on New Year’s Day.

They will return to their normal opening hours from Thursday January 2.

Opening times will vary depending on where you live, so it’s best to check the Lidl store finder tool on its website to avoid a wasted trip.

Other Irish supermarkets look set to make a similar move with Christmas closures, with opening hours for all major retailers to be confirmed over the coming weeks,

Meanwhile, Lidl is bringing holiday cheer to savvy shoppers with a range of Christmas wrapping essentials starting at just 99 cent.

It will be filled with festive items to wrap gifts in style from Monday, November 11 onwards.

The festive lineup includes character wrapping paper for €1.99 featuring family favourites like Lightning McQueen, Lilo & Stitch, Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

And even a mashup of Disney characters, including Moana, Toy Story, Lion King, and more.

There’s also Frozen-themed wrap starring Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Sven, perfect for little ones with a love for Arendelle.

For bigger gifts, Lidl’s got a Jumbo Gift Bag for €2.99, and large kids’ gift bags with playful snowman prints for €1.49.

If you’re wrapping smaller surprises, the kids’ medium gift bags at 99c are ideal and come in various fun designs.

THE HISTORY OF LIDL IN IRELAND

LIDL first opened in Germany in 1973.

Back then, it employed just three people, stocking 500 product lines.

The first Irish store, located just off Molesworth Street in Dublin, was opened in 1999.

This was Lidl’s first entry into the Irish grocery market.

Then, Lidl opened more stores in 2000, in Limerick, Letterkenny, Mullingar, Athlone, Cavan, Ballinasloe and Portlaoise.

Now, the retailer has over 180 stores and three distribution centres, employing over 6,000 people.

They work with a network of more than 260 Irish suppliers from the communities they operate in.

There are countless gift bags with different Christmas patterns across them to fit a variety of gift sizes.

No gift is complete without a bow, and Lidl offers packs of Christmas bows for €2.49.

With 20 bows and 10 metres of curling ribbon in festive shades of green, silver, and gold, your gifts will be looking extra festive.

To top it all off, shoppers can grab Christmas Foil Tags in silver, gold, and red for just 99c.

And a Ribbon Assortment for €1.99 with plenty of colours in both narrow and wide options to suit any wrapping style.