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New Year’s Day 2025: What’s open, what’s closed on Jan. 1? Walmart, Starbucks, banks, restaurants

It’s out with the old and in with the new as we welcome 2025.

Since it’s a federal holiday, government offices are closed Jan. 1 and mail will not run. Banks are closed but many retailers opt to stay open on New Year’s Day.

Here’s a look at what’s open and what’s closed on New Year’s Day:

Federal offices and courts – Closed
State and municipal offices and courts – Closed
U.S. Post Office- Closed. Mail will not run on Wednesday except for Priority Mail Express
Banks – Closed
New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq – Closed
UPS – Closed except for UPS Express Critival
Fed Ex – Closed except for Custom Critical Services
Starbucks – Open but hours will vary

Grocery stores

Aldi – Closed New Year’s Day
Costco – Closed New Year’s Day
Dollar General – Open 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Kroger – Open, hours may vary
Publix – Open but will close early. Some stores will close at 7 p.m., others at 8 p.m.
Sam’s Club – Closed
Sprout’s – Open 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
Target – Open regular hours 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Trader Joe’s – Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Walmart – Open regular hours, 6 a.m.-11 p.m. in most locations
Whole Foods – Opening at 9 a.m.- 9 p.m.

Drug stores

Drug stores Walgreens and CVS will be open but hours will vary. Check ahead.

Retailers

Most retailers are open on New Year’s Day though many will have holiday schedules. Here’s a look at some retailers that are open New Year’s Day:

Bass Pro Shops – 9 a.m.- 9 p.m., varies by store
Best Buy – 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Hobby Lobby – 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Home Depot – 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Kohl’s – 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Lowe’s – 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

General

What Alabama football players said about coaching staff after 2024 season

Alabama football’s 2024 season ended in disappointment Tuesday. The Crimson Tide never led against a Michigan team that was missing several starters, losing the ReliaQuest Bowl 19-13 in Tampa.

The game snapped Alabama’s streak of 10-win seasons that dated back to the 2008 season. Kalen DeBoer’s first season in charge after Nick Saban’s retirement ended 9-4.

After the game, Crimson Tide players said they continued to have full faith in the coaching staff.

“It’s a bright future ahead,” UA quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “Because, people understand what needs to be done so that we can be the best version of ourselves. The standard that is here, the standard that is set. And we have a lot of great dues in the locker room that are hungry, that want to get better and looking to uphold the standard.

We also have to look at who is within the building, which is (Josh Chapman), Denzel (Devall), Ha-Ha (Clinton-Dix), these are guys that have won national championships. Chap was the first era of coach Saban being implemented into the system, so we have guys that understand what the standard is within the building.”

Milroe also praised offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, who took his share of criticism from Crimson Tide fans throughout the season.

“He’s been one of the best coaches I’ve been around,” Milroe said. “And on a personal level, just being around him, he’s always bringing a smile to my face. There’s never a dull moment. He’s always uplifting. He always has my back. He’s always, constantly trying to push me each and every day so I can be the best version of myself.”

Milroe has an NFL decision ahead of him. Defensive lineman Tim Smith is completely out of eligibility.

Speaking after the game, Smith also expressed confidence in the program moving forward. He said the coaches who came in did a solid job building relationships with the players already in the program, helping ease the transition.

“Nothing was strange or anything like that,” Smith said. “They knew us and we were comfortable with them.”

Smith also made a point echoed by his fellow defensive lineman Tim Keenan: Alabama’s players help maintain the standard build during the Saban years. Keenan, who said he hadn’t made a decision as to whether he’d be back for the Crimson Tide, said he kept up confidence in DeBoer as well.

He explained his decision to stick around through the coaching change.

“I love the state of Alabama,” Keenan, a Birmingham native, said. “It’s my home. So why not give this guy a shot? I prayed about it. If God gave him the job, who am I to say no? I got full faith in God and so I had full faith in him, full trust in coach DeBoer.”

Alabama will open the 2025 season on Aug. 30 at Florida State.

General

2 wounded in southwest Birmingham shooting; suspect in custody

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General

Watch Illinois coach Bret Bielema taunt South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, who has to be held back

Tempers flared during the second half of Tuesday’s Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, during which South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer had to be held back after being taunted by Illinois counterpart Bret Bielema.

Bielema came across the field late in the third quarter to see about an injured player, and held out both arms to mimic the officials’ “substitution” signal as he was walking back to the Illini sideline. That set off Beamer, who had been complaining all game about Illinois’ tactics — including allegedly faking injuries — to slow down the Gamecocks’ hurry-up offense.

The South Carolina coach was visibly upset, and had to be held back by staff members. Bielema was later caught on camera delivering a sly smirk.

Here’s video:

There were no further fireworks during the post-game handshake, and Bielema dodged a question about his altercation with Beamer in his post-game interview on ESPN.

General

Kalen DeBoer reflects on Jalen Milroe’s 2024 season with Alabama football

Jalen Milroe didn’t have his best game to close out the 2024 season and possibly his Alabama football career. Far from it.

Milroe completed 16 of 32 passes for 192 yards, one touchdown and one interception in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan. He also ran 16 times for seven yards, but that accounts for sack yardage. Milroe also had two fumbles the Wolverines recovered in the first quarter.

Milroe couldn’t push the offense to a score late when it needed one. As a result, Alabama fell 19-13 to the Wolverines on Tuesday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

After the game, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was asked to reflect on the season Milroe had, how he grew and how he handled being the face of the program.

“Well I think everyone would probably share the same feeling I have, is that the guy always speaks about the team,” DeBoer said. “He always speaks about his teammates. It’s not about him. He leads that way every day in our program. When you’re the quarterback of any football team, the eyes are always on you, especially when you’re at Alabama, and you’re going through some ups and downs once in a while in the course of a season. It takes on a heavy burden sometimes. He’s just steady. He stays the course.”

DeBoer saw fight in Milroe and an ability to move forward even when he made mistakes. That showed Tuesday when Milroe led the offense to 10 points in the second quarter after the disastrous start.

“I thought that’s one area where he’s really improved, especially in the last half of the season,” DeBoer said. “I think our guys appreciate that in him. I think that they have taken that on as a team, too in always trying to move forward, even when we’re not perfect.”

Milroe finished the season with 16 passing touchdowns, 20 rushing touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.

General

Why didn’t Alabama football use running backs more in Michigan loss?

Alabama football’s offense struggled to gain any foothold against Michigan, costing the Crimson Tide in Tuesday’s ReliaQuest Bowl. The Crimson Tide fell 19-13, in a game it had every chance to win, even late.

UA quarterback Jalen Milroe completed 16 of his 32 passing attempts for 192 yards. Other than one 41-yard run, he had trouble finding room on the ground too, finishing with 94 yards, adjusted to remove sacks.

Still, Alabama’s running backs only got 12 total carries. After the game, Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer explained why Alabama didn’t try to get them more involved.

“I think that (Michigan is) one of the top five rushing defenses,” DeBoer said. “I know that there’s personnel on both teams that were different, maybe from what you’d see in the regular season, both us and them, but I think there was certainly part of our game plan to where we felt we needed to spit the ball out and get the ball in the right guys’ hands.”

DeBoer went on to say that the Crimson Tide didn’t execute during the game like it had during the practices leading up to the bowl. The loss snapped a streak of 10-win seasons for Alabama, which dated back to 2008, ending the year 9-4.

Among the running backs, Jam Miller led the way, with 10 carries for 27 yards. Richard Young also ran the ball for six yards on two attempts.

“There were some runs that I think Jam at the end of the game poured up in there, at the end of the first half,” DeBoer said. “I really thought he did a nice job getting us out from behind our own end zone there, so he ran hard. I think just having a little bit of a balance was important for us in this game, just because of, kind of, who they were and a little bit of what we felt we could do to attack them.”

General

New Year’s Eve: Time these movies, games to reach crescendo at midnight

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebration, countdowns, fireworks, ball drops and more.

However, if you are looking for an alternative to the more traditional ways to count down to midnight, social media has gotten quite a buzz over the last couple of years with queuing up a favorite movie or ballgame to hit the crescendo right as the clock strikes midnight.

A Reddit thread posted a couple of years ago has some suggestions:

Start “Ghostbusters II” at 10:38 p.m., and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) says, “Happy New Year’s” at midnight.

Begin “Back to the Future” at 10:19 p.m., and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) returns to 1985 in the DeLorean at midnight.

If you start “Great Gatsby” at 11:29:57 p.m., Jay Gatsby (Leo DiCaprio) will toast you at, you guessed it, midnight.

Ramp up “Forrest Gump” at 10:38:57 p.m., and you can celebrate New Year’s with Forrest (Tom Hanks) and Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise).

Here are some others found on social media:

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

General

A high ranking contender for Alabama’s next governor ‘definitely not running’ in 2026

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Tuesday that he won’t run for governor in 2026, removing his name from the list of possible candidates eyeing the highest state office.

The Republican attorney general said he made the decision last month after discussing it with his wife.

“Definitely not running for governor. Tammy and I talked a lot over the year and then made the decision over Thanksgiving that it just didn’t seem to be a good next step for us,” Marshall said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who has been the state’s governor since 2017, is in her final term in office. The end of her lengthy tenure is expected to draw a crowded field of candidates seeking the governor’s office in the 2026 election. Marshall, who has been the state’s attorney general since 2017, had been mentioned as a possible contender.

Marshall, who is also in his final term as attorney general, said his decision does not mean he is done with politics and public service.

“It’s just I am definitely not going to seek the role of governor and then we’ll see what plays out,” he said.

He said he has had conversations with the incoming Trump administration but does not plan to leave his current role as attorney general.

“They’ve been gracious to talk about what may be next there, but I made the commitment to the folks in Alabama to be here for this term. I’m very lucky and love being attorney general. And so, my intentions are to stay in this role and continue to do what we’ve done for the last eight years,” Marshall said.

As attorney general, Marshall banded with other Republican states in filing lawsuits challenging multiple policies of the Biden administration. His office also led the development of Alabama’s use of nitrogen gas as an execution method. Alabama in 2024 became the first state to use the new execution method. Marshall said additional nitrogen executions are planned in 2025.

General

Does Kalen DeBoer think Alabama football’s 2024 season was successful?

Alabama football’s streak of 10-win seasons that began in 2008 was snapped on Tuesday, when the Crimson Tide suffered an upset loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The loss showed striking similarities to two of UA’s regular-season defeats, to less-talented Vanderbilt and Oklahoma teams.

The Crimson Tide missed the College Football Playoff, didn’t play in the SEC championship game and couldn’t win its bowl, finishing the year 9-4 in Kalen DeBoer’s first year in charge. Not quite the standard set by Nick Saban.

After the game, DeBoer discussed whether the 2024 season was a success.

“Every time you’re in the locker room and you have something like this, it’s disappointing,” DeBoer said. “But I think there’s a lot of things that you take from it.”

DeBoer took over for Saban when the man who won six national championships in Tuscaloosa retired in January. He battled through a lengthy transfer portal window where Saban’s players had the option to leave the portal, and built a staff quickly after most schools were already done on that front.

He made sure to praise the players who stuck around at Alabama and comprised the 2024 team.

“They stayed the course,” DeBoer said. “There’s a whole lot more I just think that really goes into the last 12 months. People see what happens on a Saturday, but it’s guys choosing to stay here. Guys choosing to go from one week to the next when we’re on a little bit of a roller coaster through the middle of the season. As long as we learn from it, then, to me, it can be a success moving forward.”

Keeping that promise will involve doing what DeBoer said would make the Tide’s worst season since Saban’s first a success. Alabama struggled with consistency all year, one week beating Georgia or LSU, the next falling to Vanderbilt or Oklahoma.

The Tide has to let the lessons soak in.

“There’s some things that happened in the game today too, that we gotta learn from and make sure that those mistakes don’t hurt us a year from now,” DeBoer said. “I don’t care if it’s turnovers, penalties, it’s everything. So, to me, it’s a success if we move forward and we take advantage of the lessons, even though we don’t want to learn those lessons sometimes, right? Because they’re hard.

“We’re gonna learn those lessons and move forward and be better next year because of it.”

Alabama opens the 2025 season at Florida State on Aug. 30.

General

How Kalen DeBoer’s first season compares to other Alabama football coaches

Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer lost some bad games in his first season with the program, but it was far from the worst first season by a Crimson Tide coach.

After a 19-13 loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Alabama finished 9-4. That’s a .69 win percentage for DeBoer, which ranks fourth for coaches in the past century behind Frank Thomas (9-1), Wallace Wade (7-2-1) and Red Drew (8-3).

Thomas went 9-1 in 1931, Wade went 7-2-1 in 1923 and Drew went 8-3 in 1947.

Nick Saban finished 7-6 (.54) in his first season. Paul W. “Bear” Bryant went 5-4-1 (.55).

Although DeBoer’s season wasn’t the worst first year for a Crimson Tide coach, it snapped a streak of 10-win seasons. Alabama had won at least 10 games for 16 straight seasons. The last time the Crimson Tide didn’t win 10 games was in 2007, Saban’s first year.

DeBoer had several strong wins, such as victories over Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri and LSU. But he also had some bad losses in 2024 such as Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Michigan, which was without many of its best players because they opted out.

“They did a great job,” captain Tyler Booker said of the job DeBoer and the staff did in 2024. “I feel like the coaching staff did a great job. People are probably going to laugh at me when I say that, but you’ve got to understand that their first active duty when they got here was retaining a team. Especially in an era of NIL and a bunch of guys left. But we also got a bunch of guys to come in. To do all that, to have a great recruiting class that they just recruited in, to go out here and really battle in the SEC for the first time, I think they did a great job. Obviously there’s things we could have done better as players. Obviously there’s things they could have done better as coaches. There’s always going to be room for improvement. Top to bottom. They’ll be the first ones to tell you that. I’m just very blessed to have had this coaching staff and I’m glad Coach DeBoer came here. Shoutout to him. It takes a certain amount of pride and confidence in oneself to come follow up the greatest coach of all time.”

Alabama football coaches: First season winning percentage (past century)

Frank Thomas: 9-1 (.90)
2. Wallace Wade: 7-2-1 (.75)
3. Red Drew: 8-3 (.73)
4. Kalen DeBoer: 9-4 (.69)
5. Ray Perkins: 8-4 (.67)
6. Bill Curry: 7-5 (.58)
Dennis Franchione: 7-5 (.58)
Gene Stallings: 7-5 (.58)
9. Bear Bryant: 5-4-1 (.55)
10. Nick Saban: 7-6 (.54)
11. Mike DuBose: 4-7 (.36)
12. Mike Shula: 4-9 (.31)
13. JB Whitworth: 0-10 (0)

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.