Should You Close Your Small Business Between Christmas and New Year?

Every December, the same argument starts.

Someone on the team says, “We have to stay open between Christmas and New Year. What if it’s busy? What if people need us?”

Someone else says, “But it was dead last year. We were all exhausted, and we basically paid to keep the lights on.”

And you? You look at the bank balance, think about staff who want time off, remember that one customer who complained you were closed last time, and suddenly it feels like there’s a “right” answer out there that you’re supposed to know.

Here’s the thing. There isn’t one.

I’ve watched business owners tie themselves in knots over this decision year after year. And nine times out of ten, they’re arguing about the wrong things—gut feelings, what the competition does, some vague sense that “good businesses stay open.” Meanwhile, they’re ignoring the numbers, ignoring their people, and ignoring what their customers actually need.

So let’s fix that. I want to walk you through a way of thinking about this decision that you can use this year and every year after. No spreadsheets required—just honest answers to honest questions.

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Why This Decision Feels So Loaded

Before we get into the practical stuff, let’s name something: this decision feels bigger than it is.

For a lot of small business owners, staying open feels like commitment. Like proof you’re serious. Closing feels like failure—or at least like you’re admitting you can’t hack it.

That’s not business logic. That’s anxiety dressed up as strategy.

According to research from Simply Business, half of UK business owners have experienced poor mental health in the past year. A MYOB Business Monitor survey found that 32% of SME owners have experienced a mental health condition since starting their business—with 85% of those reporting stress as a factor.

December makes all of this worse. You’ve just sprinted through the busiest weeks of the year. You’re exhausted. Your team is exhausted. And now you’re supposed to make a clear-headed strategic decision about the week nobody really knows what to do with.

No wonder we default to “just stay open and see what happens.”

But that’s not a strategy. That’s just hoping for the best while quietly dreading the worst.

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The Three Lenses That Actually Decide This

Most owners argue this decision on one dimension at a time.

“We can’t close, we need the money.”

“We can’t stay open, everyone is shattered.”

“We can’t close, customers will be annoyed.”

Each of those is a real concern. But here’s the problem: none of them, on their own, gives you a clean answer.

Instead, I want you to think about this through three lenses:

1. Money – Are we actually making profit on those days, or are we quietly paying to be open?
2. Humans – What will this do to our people’s energy, morale, and ability to perform in January?
3. Relationships – What do our customers and suppliers actually need from us that week?

When you look through all three at once, the right answer usually becomes obvious. Let’s work through each.

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Lens One: Money (The Five-Minute Break-Even Check)

The financial question isn’t “Will we take some money if we open?”

It’s: “On the days we’re considering opening, are we making money, losing money, or roughly breaking even once we include the real costs?”

This matters more than most owners realise. According to iwoca’s SME research, 44% of UK small businesses depend on the Christmas period for over a quarter of their annual revenue. That sounds like a reason to stay open—until you realise that most of that money comes before Christmas, not in the strange limbo week after it.

Xero’s Small Business Insights found that small business sales revenue in December 2023 actually fell 1% year-on-year—the first negative growth since February 2021. The festive period isn’t the goldmine it used to be, and the days between Christmas and New Year are often the quietest of all.

So here’s a quick way to check whether opening makes financial sense.

Step 1: Pick the actual days you’re considering.

Don’t think of “the week between Christmas and New Year” as one blob. Break it down: 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st. Maybe the weekend too, if you usually trade then.

Step 2: Estimate realistic sales for each day.

What would you normally take on a weekday at this time of year? What do you honestly expect in that dead week? If you have last year’s numbers, use them. If not, err on the cautious side.

Step 3: Convert to gross profit.

Revenue isn’t profit. If your typical gross margin is 40%, then £1,000 of sales is £400 of gross profit. Rough numbers are fine—you’re not filing accounts, you’re trying to avoid obviously bad decisions.

Step 4: Work out the cost of opening.

For each day, estimate:

• Staff wages (including any overtime or holiday rates)
• Your own time, if you’d otherwise be off or doing something more valuable
• Heating, lighting, deliveries, cleaners—anything that only exists if you’re open

For many small businesses, staff time is the killer. If you need two people in plus yourself, that adds up fast.

Step 5: Compare and classify.

For each day, compare expected gross profit to cost of opening:

• Green = gross profit clearly above cost. Worth opening.
• Red = gross profit below cost. You’re paying to be open.
• Amber = roughly break-even. Could go either way.

I worked with a café owner last year who did this exercise for the first time. She’d always assumed the dead week was “quiet but worth it.” When she actually ran the numbers, three of the five days were deep red. She was literally paying for the privilege of standing in an empty shop.

Step 6: Write one sentence.

Summarise what the money lens tells you:

• “On money alone, we’d be paying to be open most of that week.”
• “On money alone, two specific days look profitable; the rest are questionable.”
• “On money alone, we can justify being open—as long as the estimates are realistic.”

Keep that sentence. We’ll combine it with the other two lenses shortly.

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Lens Two: Humans (The Cost Nobody Puts on the P&L)

The week between Christmas and New Year lands on very tired humans.

December usually means long hours, late nights, weekends. More emotional labour—frazzled customers, big expectations, family tensions spilling into the workplace. Pressure on you, the owner, to “make the most” of the busy period.

By the time you hit the dead week, your people aren’t starting from neutral. They’re starting from minus.

A FreshBooks survey found that over 70% of small business owners agree that taking time off during the holidays is essential for wellbeing. And yet 40% of those same owners hadn’t taken a proper break in more than a year.

That’s not sustainable. And it’s not just about the owner—it’s about the team too.

Research from Employsure found that 62% of employees suffering from burnout actively dread the Christmas season. Not because they hate Christmas, but because they know what it costs them.

So here’s what I want you to do.

Look at your team honestly.

For each person who might work that week—including yourself—ask:

• How many extra evenings or weekends have they worked in the last month?
• Do they have caring responsibilities, kids off school, family who only visit once a year?
• Are there signs they’re “done”—short temper, silly mistakes, withdrawal?

You probably already know the answers. The point is to acknowledge them.

Name what you’re buying with extra exhaustion.

If you stay open, you’re not just buying potential revenue. You’re also buying:

• More tired staff in January, when you actually need them firing on all cylinders
• Higher risk of mistakes, refunds, and customer friction
• More resentment if people feel they “gave up Christmas” for days that were half-empty

Sometimes that trade is still worth it. Often it isn’t.

Watch out for the “quietly open, fully exhausted” trap.

This is a particularly nasty middle ground. You stay open. It’s quiet. Everyone is too tired to do anything meaningful with the time.

You don’t get revenue. You don’t get recovery. You don’t get the behind-the-scenes improvement work done. You just sit in limbo, watching the clock and feeling vaguely guilty.

If that sounds familiar from last year, take it as a warning sign.

Consider the in-between options.

“Open” and “closed” aren’t the only choices. You can also:

• Open for fewer days (say, just two or three carefully chosen ones)
• Run shorter hours (11am–3pm instead of full days)
• Have a skeleton crew of volunteers who genuinely want the hours
• Be closed to the public but open internally for stocktaking, training, or project work

These options let you protect the most exhausted people while still being available for anything genuinely urgent.

Write your human sentence.

Summarise what the humans lens tells you:

• “On humans alone, we really shouldn’t do a full open that week.”
• “On humans alone, we could manage two short days if we protect time off around them.”
• “On humans alone, the team is actually fine—as long as we’re honest about expectations.”

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Lens Three: Relationships (What Customers Actually Need)

In the dead week, your customers and suppliers are living in a weird pattern too. They’re tidying up the mess of December, recovering from the emotional and financial hangover, slowly shifting their attention to “back to normal” in January.

Your job is to be honest about what they actually need from you—not what your anxiety imagines they need.

What jobs are customers trying to get done that week?

Think about your real customers. Are they mostly trying to:

• Return or exchange things?
• Fix something that broke at Christmas?
• Spend gift cards or vouchers?
• Get set up for work or school restarting?
• Or simply switch off and not think about you at all?

For each major customer group, jot down what would be a relief for them and what would annoy them. You might find that:

• Being unclear is worse than being closed
• A limited but reliable service beats full hours that keep changing
• A simple way to book or queue for January is more useful than you standing around waiting for walk-ins

When does being open genuinely help?

There are cases where staying open really does serve people:

• You offer emergency or time-sensitive services (plumbing, repairs, certain healthcare)
• People have made plans that depend on you (events, bookings, travel)
• There’s a narrow window to fix something before work or school restarts

In those cases, think about whether you can concentrate that value into specific days and hours, and be crystal clear about what you will and won’t do.

When does a clear closure serve them better?

Plenty of customers are actually better served by you being clearly closed and well organised:

• You publish exact dates you’re closed and when you reopen
• You explain why (“so we can reset and serve you properly in January”)
• You offer an emergency route for truly urgent issues
• You provide a simple way to book a January slot or join a waitlist

This can leave people feeling more looked after than a half-hearted “we’re technically open but not really doing much.”

Don’t forget suppliers and partners.

They’re under pressure too—stocktakes, audits, year-end processing. Their staff are off or on skeleton crews. Delivery schedules are different.

Ask yourself: do we need them to be fully functioning for us to be open meaningfully? A quick email to your key suppliers asking “here’s what we’re thinking—what does that mean for you?” can prevent a lot of friction.

Write your relationships sentence.

• “On relationships alone, people would be better served by us being clearly closed and organised.”
• “On relationships alone, there’s real value in us being open for specific jobs on specific days.”
• “On relationships alone, we could go either way—as long as communication is early and clear.”

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Putting the Three Lenses Together

You now have three sentences—one for Money, one for Humans, one for Relationships.

When you look at them side by side, you’ll usually see yourself in one of three patterns.

Pattern 1: “Stay Open On Purpose”

This is you if:

• Money: At least some days are clearly profitable.
• Humans: The team is tired but not at breaking point, and you can give proper time off before or after.
• Relationships: There are real, time-sensitive jobs customers rely on you for.

If that’s you, the answer isn’t “just open and see what happens.” It’s “stay open on purpose.”

What that means in practice:

Define the job of the week. Be specific: “We’re here for exchanges and urgent repairs” or “We’re running pre-booked sessions only.”

Shape your opening tightly. Choose the best days and hours, not the most. Put the right people on those shifts—those with energy and appetite, not whoever is too polite to say no.

Run one small experiment. Treat the week as a lab. Try a specific offer, a new layout, a new booking process. Write down what you’re testing, what you expect, and what actually happens.

Protect recovery anyway. Even if you’re open, build in guaranteed days off for staff and a realistic start-back date in January.

Pattern 2: “Close and Use the Week Differently”

This is you if:

• Money: Most days are red or thin amber.
• Humans: Key people are exhausted or have significant commitments.
• Relationships: Customers can be well served through clear communication and a simple January booking system.

In other words, opening would mostly be about your anxiety, not real demand.

And here’s the thing: some of the most successful businesses in the world close deliberately over the holidays. Patagonia, the outdoor clothing company, shuts down between Christmas and New Year every year. Their leadership framed it as part of a “human-centric approach to business”—not a weakness, but a statement of values.

Web hosting company Pagely does the same thing, even though their industry typically runs 24/7/365. They’ve written publicly about how annual company-wide downtime helps them “relax and refresh” without damaging customer relationships—because they communicate it early and clearly.

What “close and use the week differently” looks like:

Communicate early and calmly. Across all your channels—door sign, website, Google listing, socials, email—tell people:

• Exact dates you’re closed and when you reopen
• Why you’re doing it: “So we can rest, fix a few things behind the scenes, and serve you properly in January”
• How to get help in a genuine emergency
• How to book or queue for January

Give the team permission to actually switch off. Make it explicit: people are not expected to check emails.

Use part of the week for back-office work—on purpose. Closing isn’t collapsing. Choose two or three behind-the-scenes priorities: fixing your returns process, tidying stock, documenting recurring tasks, reviewing what worked this year. Treat it as a short sprint with clear outcomes.

Pattern 3: “The Messy Middle”

Most businesses live here.

• The money picture is mixed
• Humans are tired but not at absolute breaking point
• Relationships could be served either way

When you’re in the messy middle, chasing a “perfect” answer will just melt your brain. Instead, aim for a least-regret experiment.

What that looks like:

Shrink the decision. Instead of “open vs closed all week,” decide on one or two days you’ll definitely open, or one or two days you’ll definitely close and use for deep work.

Set a simple target. “If we open on the 28th, it’s worth it if we hit £X.” “If we try half-days, success means feeling refreshed and finishing two back-office jobs.”

Default to protecting humans. When in doubt: shorter hours, volunteers not press-ganged staff, guaranteed proper time off around any shifts.

Document what happens. Afterwards, capture three things: numbers (what you took vs expected), humans (how people felt), relationships (any notable feedback). Turn fuzzy “it felt busy” into usable data for next year.

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From One-Off Decision to Reusable Playbook

Here’s where the real leverage comes.

By this point, you’ve done what most owners never quite manage: you’ve looked at money, been honest about humans, and thought about what customers actually need. You’ve probably recognised yourself in one of the three patterns.

That’s enough to make a better decision this year.

But the real win is when you stop treating this as a brand-new dilemma every December and turn it into a simple policy you update, not reinvent.

Step 1: Write down this year’s decision in plain language.

For example:

“Given our numbers, team, and customers, we’re going to close from X to Y this year and use the week for recovery and back-office work, so we’re ready to hit January properly.”

Or:

“Given our numbers, team, and customers, we’re going to stay open on these specific days and hours, focused on [job], and we’ll protect recovery time before and after.”

Step 2: Define your “must be true” conditions to stay open.

Write a short list of green-light checks. Things like:

• Expected gross profit is at least £X above the cost of opening
• At least [number] of key people are genuinely able and willing to work
• There’s a clear, time-sensitive job we’re helping customers with
• Suppliers can actually support us

If several of these aren’t true next year, your default probably shouldn’t be “of course we’ll be open.”

Step 3: Define your “default to close” red flags.

Capture the situations where you agree in advance that closing is the smart move:

• Break-even check shows likely losses on more than half the days
• More than X% of the team has flagged exhaustion or caring responsibilities
• Main customer jobs can be met by good communication and a January booking process

This is where you give yourself permission in advance to not be heroic.

Step 4: Build a simple comms checklist.

Whether you open or close, most customer stress comes from uncertainty. Write down:

• Channels you’ll update (Google, website, socials, email, door sign)
• Key messages for closing (“We’re closed from X to Y so we can…”)
• Key messages for opening (“We’re open for [specific jobs] on [specific days]”)

Step 5: Add a five-minute review ritual for early January.

Schedule ten minutes in the first week of January to answer:

• Did we follow our own policy, or panic-change it?
• What actually happened with revenue, staff energy, customer feedback?
• Would we choose the same option again with hindsight?

Add one or two bullet-point tweaks to your policy. That’s it. Next December, you’re starting from a lived document, not a blank page and a sinking feeling.

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A Note on January

One more thing worth mentioning: the data on January might change how you think about this.

BRC-Sensormatic footfall data shows that UK retail footfall in January 2025 actually increased 6.6% year-on-year—a significant rebound from December’s 2.2% decline. High streets, retail parks, and shopping centres all saw recovery.

That suggests January isn’t the graveyard month it’s often painted as. If you close between Christmas and New Year and come back strong, you might catch that wave. If you stay open, exhaust yourself, and limp into January, you might miss it.

Something to factor in.

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The Decision Is Yours

I can’t tell you whether to open or close. Nobody can—not me, not your accountant, not the business down the road that does the opposite of whatever you do.

What I can tell you is that this decision deserves better than gut feel and anxiety.

Look at the money. Be honest about your humans. Think about what your customers actually need. Write it down. And next year, start from where you finished instead of from scratch.

That’s how you turn a stressful annual argument into a quiet competitive advantage.

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Quick Reference: Questions to Ask Yourself

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Frequently Asked Questions

Won’t customers be annoyed if we’re closed?

Most won’t—as long as you communicate early and clearly. What annoys people is uncertainty: not knowing if you’re open, finding out at the last minute, or getting patchy service when they do show up. A clear, well-communicated closure is usually better received than a half-hearted opening.

What if my competitors stay open?

Then they stay open. The question is whether their customers are your customers, and whether those customers are actually buying that week or just browsing. If your competitors want to pay staff to stand in quiet shops, that’s their choice. Make yours based on your numbers, not theirs.

How do I know if it’s worth it financially?

Run the five-minute break-even check in this article. Compare expected gross profit (not revenue—gross profit) to the cost of opening for each day. If more than half the days are red or thin amber, you’re probably paying to be open.

What should we do with the time if we close?

Recovery first. Beyond that, pick two or three back-office priorities: fixing a process that’s been annoying you, tidying stock, documenting tasks, reviewing what worked this year. Treat it as a short sprint, not an open-ended “catch up on everything.”

How early should we communicate our plans?

At least two weeks before Christmas—ideally earlier. Update your Google Business Profile, put a banner on your website, post on social media, email regular customers, and put a sign on the door. Then remind people the week before.