Macy's Set To Stay Open All Day, All Night, All Day ...

It is either a shopper's dream or a nightmare: a department store that never closes. Want to shop at 3 a.m. for slippers? How about 11:30 p.m. for the perfect party dress? Go right ahead in this consumers Vanity Fair.

For at least one weekend, that could be a reality for Belmont residents this Christmas season. 

Belmont Center's Macy's will be before the Belmont Board of Selectmen Monday, Dec. 3, (which is holding a session before the special Town Precinct meetings) seeking an action by consent that will allow the department store to stay open for 65 continuous hours the weekend before Christmas.

The store would open at 7 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 21 (the first day of winter) and not close until midnight on Sunday, Dec. 23.

That's right: That's more than two-and-a-half days of straight shopping opportunities. Shoppers could actually shop until they dropped, of sleep deprivation if anything.

Talking to Belmont Center's store manager and VP Rose Meade at Thursday night's Turn on the Town celebration, the store's parent company, Macy's Inc. (the former Federated Department Stores) is seeking to have all its 850 stores stay open for the entire final weekend before Christmas. 

Meade said the promotional is possible as Christmas is on a Tuesday, close enough to the weekend so that consumers will appreciate a final chance to grab the last minute gift or item without the traditional crowds associated with the final days before the holiday.