Shopping Ulta on December 24th Is an Exercise in Patience and Strategy
Most Ulta stores operate on reduced hours on Christmas Eve, typically closing between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM depending on your location. Regular weekday hours usually run until 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM, so you are already working with a compressed window. The math is simple: more people, fewer hours, same inventory. If you need a specific item, going at 10 AM is almost always better than 3 PM, and I have seen this play out in every major metro area over the past several years. Before you head out, do not assume the standard hours apply. Call your specific store or check the Ulta app for the location you are using. I learned this the hard way in 2019 when I drove 40 minutes to a suburban Ulta, expecting it to be open until 7 PM, only to find a handwritten sign saying early closure at 5 PM. The store was a franchise-style lease with unique holiday scheduling that corporate had not even updated online. That cost me the one day I had to pick up a Last Call perfume set for my sister. Now I call ahead every single year without exception. Here is how most locations break down on December 24th:
Metro and urban locations often close at 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM. These are your busiest stores because they serve wider geographic areas. The downtown Ulta near Union Square in New York, for instance, has consistently stayed open until 8 PM during recent years, but the lines for checkout stretch out the door by early afternoon. Suburban mall locations tend to align with mall hours. Most regional malls close at 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve, which means the Ulta inside them closes at the same time. Some standalone suburban stores keep regular hours or only trim one hour off, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Check the mall's holiday schedule as a proxy if the Ulta app shows inconsistent data. Rural and small-town locations frequently close early, often at 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM. These stores are frequently managed by a district supervisor who makes unilateral decisions about holiday staffing. There is no standardization here, and corporate rarely intervenes.
The Ulta app displays store hours, but the data is sometimes lagging by a day during holiday periods. If the app shows regular hours and you want to be cautious, call the store directly. A three-minute phone call saves you a wasted trip.
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The Logistics of Actually Getting Through the Store
Ulta runs promotions aggressively in December. The 21% off coupon, the gifts with purchase tiers, and the Last Call clearance section all draw the same crowd. Understanding how these interact is the difference between a 20-minute visit and a 90-minute ordeal. The 21% off coupon is digital-only for most members and is applied automatically at checkout if you are logged in. You do not need to print anything. However, some associates miss this during the rush and will scan the coupon manually, which slows the line. If you are in a hurry, log into the app before you enter the store and take a screenshot of the coupon code in the Rewards section. Show it to the cashier immediately and say the word "digital coupon" so they apply it correctly the first time. Gifts with purchase have minimum thresholds. As of recent years, spending $35 gets you a small travel-sized item, $50 gets a slightly larger product, and $75 unlocks the premium gift. The problem is that the highest-tier gifts are usually the first to sell out. I have watched the $75 tier gifts disappear within two hours of the store opening on Christmas Eve. If your target gift is above a certain price point, go early and secure it before browsing. Do not browse first and hope to come back for the gift later in the day.
Last Call clearance is another factor. This section is marked down significantly and is not eligible for the standard 21% coupon. Associates sometimes apply the coupon by mistake at the register, which triggers a system correction and adds time. If you are buying clearance items alongside full-price products, separate them at the counter. Put the clearance items on one side of the belt and the full-price items on the other. It is a minor operational detail, but it reduces the chance of a pricing error and speeds everything up.
What Actually Stays in Stock and What Does Not
Ulta's inventory patterns on December 24th follow predictable lines based on category. Perfume and fragrance gift sets sell out the fastest, especially branded sets from Dior, Chanel, and Tom Ford. These are heavily stocked in November and often completely gone by the afternoon of December 24th. If you need a specific fragrance set, going between 10 AM and noon gives you the best chance. By 2 PM, you will be looking at whatever is left on the shelf, which is usually discontinued colors or limited-edition packaging that nobody wants. Skincare sets have moderate demand. The Drake's and Sol de Janeiro sets move quickly, but there is usually enough backstock to replenish shelves throughout the day. Associates restock from the back, but this is not automatic. If you see an empty space where a set should be, ask a team member to check the back. They can often pull a box within five minutes.
Makeup palettes and holiday collections are the most unreliable category. Shade availability is not guaranteed even when the box appears to be on the shelf. I once picked up a Morphe palette that looked complete, opened it at home, and found the eyeshadow pans were misaligned and partially used. The box was a display model that someone had returned from the night before and someone else had put back on the shelf without checking. This happens more often than you would think during the holiday rush. Test the product if you can, or buy from a location with lower traffic. Luxury skincare and anti-aging lines like SkinMedica, Olaplex, and Augustinus Bader tend to have adequate stock because the customer base for these products is older and less likely to compete in the Christmas Eve stampede. If you need something in this category, you can shop later in the day with relatively low risk of selling out.
The Checkout Bottleneck and How to Navigate It
Ulta has a loyalty program called Ultamate Rewards, and the points system can cause confusion at checkout on busy days. If you have points to redeem, tell the associate before they start scanning items. Otherwise, they may complete the entire transaction, and then you have to restart it. I have stood in line watching three people waste five minutes each doing exactly this on Christmas Eve. It is avoidable. Another issue is the returns policy. On Christmas Eve, return windows are effectively zero for most items unless you have the original receipt and the item is unopened. Associates are overwhelmed and will not make exceptions. If you are buying a gift and are unsure about the size or shade, consider buying two options and returning the one you do not want the next day. This assumes you can get to the store on December 26th, which is another consideration entirely. The parking situation deserves attention. Major Ulta locations in shopping centers have overflowing lots by 11 AM on Christmas Eve. I once spent 25 minutes circling a parking lot at a standalone Ulta in suburban Chicago because every space was taken. The workaround is simple: park two blocks away and walk. It is faster than waiting for a spot. Some stores also have satellite parking in adjacent lots that are rarely used. Look for signs or ask an associate where overflow parking is located when you arrive.
What Ulta Does Not Do Well on December 24th
Be honest about the limitations. Customer service drops significantly on Christmas Eve. Associates are stretched thin, and the quality of help you receive for product questions, customization, or complex returns is lower than on any other day of the year. If you need a skin consultation or a detailed color match, do not attempt this on December 24th. Go a day earlier or later. Online order pickup is another area where things can go wrong. If you place an order for curbside or in-store pickup the day before Christmas Eve, there is no guarantee it will be ready. Inventory systems sometimes show items as available when they are actually reserved for in-store customers. I encountered this in 2021 when I ordered a Fenty Beauty foundation for pickup and arrived to find it had been sold to a walk-in customer hours earlier. The app had not updated. The workaround is to order by 10 AM on December 23rd and confirm with the store that the item is physically on the shelf before you leave for pickup. Gift wrapping is not reliably available on Christmas Eve. Some stores offer it, but many do not have staff assigned to that service on the holiday. If gift wrapping matters to you, bring your own supplies or skip it. The stress of waiting for a wrapped gift at a crowded register is not worth the marginal convenience.
A Practical Timeline for the Day
If you need to shop at Ulta on December 24th, here is a sequence that minimizes friction based on what actually happens in practice. Get to the store between 9:30 AM and 10:00 AM. This is before the main wave of shoppers arrives. Head directly to the product you need most. Do not browse. Browse after you have your primary item in hand. Check the Last Call section on your way out if you have time, but do not linger there because it tends to draw the most congestion near the register area. Pay at the register with your digital coupon ready and your rewards number prepared. Separate clearance items from full-price items at the belt. Ask about restocking if something is out of stock on the shelf. Confirm your return eligibility if you are buying something uncertain.
Leave within 20 minutes of entering if everything goes smoothly. The window of inconvenience opens quickly after 11 AM and does not close until the store shuts down. Going into December 24th with realistic expectations about hours, stock, and service levels makes the whole process manageable. It is not a perfect shopping day at Ulta, but it is workable if you plan for the constraints and move through the store with a clear objective.
