Which Grocery Stores Are Open On Thanksgiving (And Which Are Closed)

Swinging by a grocery store on Thanksgiving Day is not a light and breezy affair. If you don't do your research, you might find yourself pulled up to a deserted parking lot or have doors shut right in your face because you just missed the cutoff time.

Rather than criss-crossing all around town looking for an open store to sell you the can of cranberry sauce no one remembered until the turkey went into the oven, consult our list to prepare for any last-minute Thanksgiving Day shopping trips. Here are the stores that will be open on Thanksgiving Day, and which are committed to remaining closed.

We all know the big Thanksgiving meal is coming, and yet someone always forgets to buy the rolls or the pie they were assigned to bring to the party. Though Costco normally has the bulk buys you need to feed an army, you won't be able to pop in at the last second to grab them. The warehouse chain is closed on Thanksgiving Day.

Recently, ALDI introduced Thanksgiving Price Rewind, a promotion offering lower pricing specifically around typical holiday dinner groceries. The promotion is running until November 29, and these traditional holiday items will be marked down to match the cost of the items in 2019 (hence the "rewind"). According to a press release sent to The Takeout, those discounts will be as much as 30% off the current in-store price. But because the chain is closed on Thanksgiving, you'll have to take advantage of the deals before or after the holiday itself.

For last-minute shoppers (I know there are many of us), Whole Foods is there to catch you in your usual misstep of waiting too long to buy ingredients. However, for a Thanksgiving Day grocery run, you'll have to show up early or call ahead to your location to double-check the store hours, because the company's website explains that locations will be open with unspecified "modified hours."

Albertsons customer service told The Takeout that the chain will be open and operating with regular hours on Thanksgiving Day. However, Albertsons also indicated that this was true of all its partner stores as well, and yet when we called a local Jewel-Osco (owned by Albertsons), we were told that its normal operating hours of 6am-midnight would be shortened to 6am-6pm on Thanksgiving.

While those hours will still fulfill most people's last-minute shopping needs, the bottom line is that you'll have to check with your nearest location by phone. (For what it's worth, Jewel's pies have long been a staple of my family's Thanksgivings, and we are also last-minute people—so they'll have what you need.) Here's a list of some of Albertsons' major partner stores:

• Jewel-Osco
• Safeway
• Vons
• Shaw's
• Tom Thumb

We were able to confirm with Kroger's customer service line that Kroger locations will operate limited hours of 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., a timeframe that should cover any "oh no, I forgot to pick up crispy fried onions for the green beans" panic. Mariano's, a Kroger brand popular in Chicago, will be open for limited hours from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. For all other partner stores, check with your nearest location by phone. Here's a partial list of Kroger's partner stores:

• Ralphs
• Dillons
• King Soopers
• Fry's
• QFC
• Pay Less
• Baker's
• Gerbes
• Harris Teeter
• Pick 'n Save
• Metro Market
• Mariano's

Although the newest Fearless Flyer is packed with Thanksgiving meal ideas and products, you won't be able to pick any of those items up at the last minute. On Thanksgiving Day Trader Joe's will be closed in order to allow crew members to spend the day with family and friends.

We confirmed with Meijer via its customer service line that its locations will close at 5 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving Day. Let's be honest, if you haven't picked up what you need by 5 p.m. on the day of the meal, it probably isn't that important anyway.

Thanks to modern technology we were able to confirm via an FAQ chat that Publix will be closed on Thanksgiving. I was informed that Publix is only closed three days out of the year, Thanksgiving being one (Easter and Christmas being the others). "We value our associates and want to provide them time around the holidays to spend with their loved ones," said the representative.

"You will have to double check that you have all of your groceries for your holiday dinner ahead of time, as our store hours will change so that way our employees can spend their holiday at home with their loved ones," reads the company's website. Hy-Vee is not beating around the bush here, and I appreciate it. The brand is basically saying, take your last-minute BS somewhere else because we are not going to deal with that today. Love that.

Even at those stores committed to remaining open on Thanksgiving, some hours and policies may vary by location. To be absolutely certain that you'll be able to pick up a pie from your local grocery store, just give your nearest location a call. No, don't look at the website or check Instagram or trust Google's listed hours—pick up a phone and talk to a human being. You could also try your best to plan out and purchase everything in advance, but what are the odds of that happening? Maybe save yourself the trouble by opting to dine out on Turkey Day.