Supermarkets are braced for a busy Christmas Eve as shoppers rush to top up on fresh food.
Tesco and Asda are both opening some stores at midnight on December 24 especially to help customers in need of eleventh hour supplies.
But high street stores expect trade to be quieter because more shoppers will already have bought festive gifts.
Tesco expects the early hours of Christmas Eve morning to be a popular time with people who want to get their final purchases out the way.
Jon Church, spokesman for the chain, said: "Many more people than usual are taking advantage of 24 hour shopping in general, but especially at Christmas time to avoid the traditional last minute rush."
Asda is bringing forward its December 24 opening hours to just after midnight from its usual time of 8am.
It expects fresh items such as sprouts, potatoes, cream, butter and cheese to be popular.
A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said: "On Christmas Eve, we believe that most of our customers will already have their Christmas food shopping in the bag and will use Monday to top up on any items they forgot to buy over the weekend and to buy any last-minute gifts they might need."
Morrisons said fresh produce such as meat and fish would be popular Christmas Eve purchases along with gift wrapping paper and sticky tape.
