What's Open Easter Weekend - Plan Ahead Now

Looks like the warm spring temps (anything above 10 degrees is aces with me) will be back through Easter Weekend 2014 so since you'll likely want to be shopping for things like burgers, buns, beer, wine, gardening and home maintenance supplies, here's the list of What's Open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday & Monday 2014:

Open All Weekend

Home Depot: across the country, Home Depot stores are open all weekend. Typical hours are from 8am-6pm or longer - check this comprehensive list for your local Home Depot easter weekend store hours. Cheers to Home Depot for making it so easy to find this information online! So helpful.

Canadian Tire: Am I impressed that I had to call individual stores and be put on hold to see what their holiday hours would be? No. That's what the website should be for, yet so far there is no info at all (it tells me to call ahead to check holiday hours). Yikes. I'm equally non-impressed to find out that my local stores are closed on both Good Friday AND Easter Sunday. Wow. Guess that spontaneous, weather-driven long weekend project money will not be able to support a Canadian retailer. Disappointing, especially with all the U.S. retailers making their way up here in droves.

LCBO: Good job LCBO, whose website has a clear link on their homepage to tell me all about their Easter weekend hours.  They're closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, with select stores open on Easter Monday. All the details are here. Plan ahead and stock up during the week, or again on Saturday.

The Beer Store: Unfortunately, no info on their website either yet. Do I want to call and find out? No, I'm a busy gal, and I already wasted 10 minutes calling Canadian Tire twice today. For now, I'll assume they'll follow the same schedule as the LCBO.

Grocery Stores: Most grocery stores are also closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, so take note that (at least in the GTA), the weather is supposed to be decent, so grab your bbq fixings ahead of time if you're dying for some outdoor cookin'!

Banks: Most banks are closed on Good Friday, and open again on Monday.  As TD Bank is usually open on Sundays, note that they are closed on Easter Sunday as well.  Check your individual bank for details.

Centro Garden in Burlington

Shopping Malls: If you're in the mood for spring clothes, you'll basically just find Toronto Eaton Centre still open, although with shorter hours (ex: Good Friday is 10-6 and Easter Sunday is 12-5). The rest, like Sherway Gardens, Square One, and even goliath Yorkdale are all closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Specialty boutiques and shops all have their own select hours, with many being closed on at least one of the holidays this weekend, if not both. Check their website or call ahead for details. Gardeners (and those in need of cool Easter-dinner hostess gifts) take note that Centro Garden in downtown Burlington will be open all weekend with their gorgeous gardening & home decor goodies (and parking is free all weekend in downtown Btown as always!).