Kohl's, Macy's, and Kmart are offering round-the-clock, marathon shopping hours for all those procrastinators.
Kohl's for the first time is staying open for essentially five days straight, from 6 a.m. on Friday through 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Macy's and Kmart are opening some of their stores for more than 100 hours in a row from Friday through Christmas Eve. And Toys R Us is staying open for 87 hours straight starting on Saturday, which is typically the second biggest shopping day of the year.
The Macy's on State Street in Chicago was packed on Friday as people rushed to finish their holiday shopping with just a few days to go.
Christmas falls on Wednesday this year, which means some people are already leaving town for the holidays. Friday was the busiest travel day of the holiday season at O'Hare and Midway international airports.
The expanded hours in the final days before Christmas are reminiscent of how some retailers typically begin the season on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday. The strategy comes as stores try to recoup lost sales during a season that's been hobbled by a number of factors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.