Thanksgiving falls on Monday, Oct. 12 this year. If the turkey is still in the store or you’re down to your last bottle of wine, sort it out by Sunday, because most of Halifax’s big stores will be locked on Monday and a fair bit of the city takes the day off with them.

The store closures aren’t a choice. Thanksgiving is on Nova Scotia’s list of designated retail closing days, alongside Christmas, Boxing Day, Easter Sunday, Good Friday and a handful of others. The law has been around since 2007, and when it passed the province set the maximum fine at $50,000 or a store’s gross sales for the day, whichever is higher. Nobody’s testing that.

Here’s how the long weekend shakes out.

Groceries come first, since that’s what most people are worried about. Any grocery store with more than 4,000 square feet of sales area has to close on Monday, which takes out every big supermarket in the city. The law does leave room for smaller spots, so these are allowed to open:

• Small grocery and corner stores, 4,000 square feet of sales area or less
• Fish stores, and fruit and vegetable stands selling mostly local produce
• Farms selling what they grow
• Gas stations

Pharmacies can open too, as long as they aren’t inside a grocery store or a store with more than 20,000 square feet of sales area. Being allowed to open isn’t the same as being open, so check your store’s hours before you head out.

The better plan is to shop on the weekend. The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market is open Saturday and Sunday (hours are on the market’s site and social media).

Wine and beer take a little planning. NSLC stores have closed on Thanksgiving Monday in past years, and the NSLC hadn’t posted 2026 holiday hours when we checked Thursday. Pick up whatever you’re pouring on Saturday or Sunday. Restaurants and bars are allowed to open Monday if you’d rather let someone else do the dishes.

Shopping is mostly a no. Malls, department stores and big box stores all fall under the closing law. A few kinds of smaller shops are exempt and may open, including bookstores, garden centres, antique stores, art galleries and used clothing stores.

If Monday is your garbage day, it moves up to Saturday, Oct. 10. There’s no garbage, organics or recycling pickup on Monday, so have your bins at the curb before 7 a.m. Saturday and make sure they’re closed up against wildlife, the municipality says.

The Otter Lake Waste Management Facility and the Materials Recovery Facility are open regular hours Saturday and closed Monday. The Household Special Waste Depot in Bayers Lake is closed Saturday and reopens Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you’ve got old paint or batteries to get rid of this weekend, a mobile depot is set up at Mic Mac Mall, 21 Micmac Blvd. in Dartmouth, on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Halifax Transit buses and the Alderney ferry run on a holiday schedule Monday. The first boat leaves the Alderney Ferry Terminal at 7:30 a.m. and the last leaves the Halifax Ferry Terminal at 11:45 p.m. There’s no Woodside ferry. Route schedules are on the Halifax Transit site, and service disruptions are posted at halifax.ca/htdisruptions.

One small bonus if you’re heading downtown: paid on-street parking is free Monday. The usual signs still apply, so don’t block intersections or sidewalks.

Every Halifax Public Libraries branch is closed Monday, as it is on all statutory and civic holidays. The 311 contact centre is closed for regular requests, though urgent problems can still be reported by phone or at contactus@311.halifax.ca. The in-person customer service centres are closed too. Everything is back to normal Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Many municipal rec centres are closed Monday, but the Sackville Sports Stadium stays open. For anywhere else, call your local centre before you pack the gym bag.

A couple of seasons wrap up this weekend. Sunday, Oct. 11, is the last day for bikes, scooters and skateboards on the Emera Oval, and free equipment rentals run until then. After that the crews start making ice for winter skating. Sunday is also the last day of the season for Georges Island, which is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If you’d rather be scared than stuffed, the Bluenose Ghosts Festival at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth runs Thursday through Sunday, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The haunted house is $15 and the selfie park is free.

And if you need a meal, Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is serving free Thanksgiving dinners on Friday at its Halifax, Dartmouth and Lower Sackville locations, and anyone is welcome. Times and addresses are here.

If your shop, market, brewery or community group is open on Thanksgiving Monday and isn’t on this list, send your hours to news@haligonia.ca and we’ll add you. We’ll keep this story updated through the weekend.

Hours change, sometimes at the last minute. Call ahead before you make the drive.