Get your first schedule working.
Create your hours, choose the schedule your store should follow, then decide what happens while you are closed.
These steps match Free 5.1.1 and Pro 5.1.0. Start on a staging or test store before changing a live checkout. Try the free demo to explore without connecting your store or entering payment details.
Watch the Free setup walkthrough
1 minute 38 seconds. An animated walkthrough using real Free 5.1.1 screens from a fictional demo store, with simulated cursor movement, clicks and typing, readable zooms and AI-generated US English narration. The plugin is shown already installed and active. Captions are off by default; use the video player’s captions control to turn them on. Test changes on your own staging store and checkout.
Download the setup video · Download English captions
Read the walkthrough transcript
Want your WooCommerce store to take orders only during your business hours? Here is how to set up Open Close Store, including a full-day holiday closure, using the free plugin. This is a demo store.
Check your store's time zone under Settings, General. Then add a schedule under Schedules. Give it a name, set your weekly opening hours and enter the message shoppers should see when the store is closed. Publish the schedule. Use your actual business hours; these are just example times.
Open Setup and holidays. Choose your published weekly schedule. To stop checkout outside those hours, select Block checkout when the store is scheduled closed, then Save schedule and protection. Check that checkout protection says On. Adding dates by itself does not enable this protection.
To close for a holiday, choose its date, add an optional message and save the holiday closures. These are full-day closures in your store's time zone. Your weekly hours stay the same. Dates apply to the selected year, so enter next year's holidays separately. Reload the page to confirm the date and message saved.
Now test as a shopper. In your staging store, check an open period and a closed period using your actual cart and checkout. Confirm the closed-store message and checkout protection work as intended. Remove any temporary test closure and save again. Check the next scheduled opening. You do not need to place a real paid order for this demonstration.
Weekly hours and holiday closures are included in Free. If you need to accept after-hours preorders for all or selected products, see the Pro comparison. A reopening time is not a reserved pickup or delivery slot. The download, written guide and comparison are linked below.
1. Install and check your timezone
Activate WooCommerce and Open Close Store for WooCommerce. In WordPress, open Settings → General → Timezone. Select your city's timezone and save. Check that the local date and time match your business.
2. Create your opening hours
Open Schedules → Add Schedule in the WordPress sidebar. In the editor's Settings tab, enter a schedule title and the message customers should see when the store is closed.
Select each weekday tab. Use Add Schedule to add an opening and closing time for that day. Add a second time slot for a split shift; for example, lunch and dinner. Leave closed days without a time slot. Check AM/PM carefully, then publish or update the schedule.
3. Select the schedule and checkout protection
Open Schedules → Setup & holidays. Under Active weekly schedule, select the schedule you published. Check Block checkout when the store is scheduled closed if you want closed-hours checkout protection, then click Save schedule & protection.
The status cards show your store clock, scheduled status, checkout protection and next scheduled opening. Viewing this page or saving holiday dates does not turn checkout protection on. Check that protection says On before relying on it.
4. Add holiday closures
In Setup & holidays → Plan holiday closures, choose each date when the store will be closed all day. Add an optional holiday message and click Save holiday closures. Dates use your store time zone and override weekly hours without changing them. They apply only to the selected year; add next year’s dates separately. To remove a closure, clear its date or use Remove, then save.
Pro’s existing manual overrides, preorder settings and product exceptions still apply. Check those settings when testing a holiday. A next opening is not a booked pickup or delivery time.
For other display and countdown choices, use Schedules → Settings. The older Active Schedule and Disable Checkout Button controls remain available there; the new setup page provides a clearer way to save those same choices.
5. Show your hours, if useful
Copy the shortcode shown beside your schedule, such as [schedule id="10"], into a WordPress Shortcode block. Use your own schedule ID, not the example number. You can also use [wooopenclose-today] for today's hours or [woc_countdown_timer] for the reopening countdown.
6. Test both open and closed states
On your test store, use a temporary schedule to check an open period and a closed period, then restore your intended hours. Check as a logged-out shopper, on desktop and mobile:
- The store status and customer message match the schedule.
- A product can be added and checkout can proceed while open.
- Closed-hours behavior matches the controls you enabled, including direct visits to cart and checkout.
- A page loaded before closing behaves as expected after the boundary. Test your actual payment buttons and other checkout extensions in their test modes.
If something does not look right
- Wrong open/closed status: check the WordPress timezone, active schedule, current weekday, AM/PM and saved time slots.
- Old message or hours: clear the relevant page cache and test logged out. Work with your host if a cached page continues to show an old status.
- Missing countdown: the plugin warns that its timer may not appear in Cart/Checkout Blocks. Treat missing display and checkout enforcement as separate tests. Check your checkout type before changing it; do not assume every theme or payment extension behaves identically.
- Need help: use the support forum or email [email protected]. Include plugin, WordPress and WooCommerce versions, the expected behavior and what happened. Keep passwords, license keys and customer details out of public posts.
When do you need Pro?
Free handles scheduled hours, full-day holiday closures and closed-hours controls. Pro adds after-hours preorders, instant open/close overrides, per-product rules and other flexibility. Compare Free and Pro once your basic schedule works.
Updated October 27, 2026 for version 5.1.0, with save, reload and holiday-removal checks in a disposable test store. Screenshots show the earlier weekly-hours/settings interface; the new Setup & holidays page is described above. No customer data is shown.