In what has become standard procedure here in the U.S., four new Wal-Mart stores in Canada will be open 24 hours a day as the Christmas shopping season hits its frenzied peak next week. If there were 25 hours per day, I am sure every Wal-Mart Supercenter would be open every hour t capture as many sales as it could. There was an experiment in Transcona last year with a 24-hour Wal-Mart -- and the experiment was so successful that Wal-Mart Canada decided to expand the program this year to four new stores in Winnipeg.

Since there will be customers at all hours of the day in many countries, a Wal-Mart Canada exec said of the 24-hour Wal-Mart stance, "The feedback I got from customers was that they were just so happy that we were open." For 2006, the Wal-Mart Canada marathon begins at 7 a.m. on Dec. 18 and runs until 11 p.m. Dec. 23. During that entire time, none of the four Winnipeg-area Wal-Mart stores will close at all. The participating stores will include the Transcona, Garden City, Unicity and St. Vital locations.

In addition to the four Winnipeg stores, Wal-Mart will operate around the clock in 51 locations across Canada, according to the company. The reason? Customer demand -- especially at Christmas -- for stores to open on Sunday beyond the noon-till-six prescribed under Manitoba law. Thank goodness for people's procrastination, and of course there will be retailers who will be happy to fill that last-second gift-buying need.