Here’s what’s open for the holidays in the region

The holiday season of course brings with it holiday hours, with plenty of businesses in Waterloo Region impacted.

Last minute shopping for Christmas will have to be done earlier than later, with malls in the region closing at different times than normal. The Cambridge Centre, Fairview Park Mall, and Conestoga Mall will all close at 5 p.m. Dec. 24 and won’t open again until Boxing Day.

Transit riders will have to plan around holiday schedules, which are running until Jan. 5, 2025. Christmas will have reduced service, with no service on most routes and limited frequency on select routes. Dec. 26 will have more routes operating, but still see select routes not running and holiday service for those that do. The full list of impacted routes can be found here.

While it will be easier to find alcohol due to the Ford government’s decision to make it available in select convenience stores, LCBO stores will be closed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas. The Beer Store locations will close at 5 p.m. Christmas Eve and also be closed on Christmas.

Waste collection in the region will be different as well to account for the holidays. There will be no collection on Christmas or New Years day. To accommodate, collection will be shifted one day forward. So if you normally get waste collected on Wednesday it will be picked up on Thursday instead. Thursday pickup will happen on Friday, and Friday collection will happen on Saturday.

Christmas trees will be collected for two weeks after Christmas as well, but must be set out by 7 a.m. on collection day. They also must have all decorations removed and if they’re longer than six-feet they must be cut in half.