Bosses at Primark have said they could extend opening times to 24 hours a day at some stores.
The move would be designed to let more people shop in the run up to Christmas.
Chief executive George Weston said: "If we are able to trade in some stores up to 24 hours a day, then we can keep people more separate from each other more easily.
"We can keep the stores safer if everyone knows there are plenty trading hours and they do not have to rush on a Sunday into a six-hour period."
And the chain is expecting to be in high demand when it reopens after lockdown.
John Bason, chief of Primark owner Associated British Foods, told PA news agency yesterday: "We are absolutely looking at longer opening hours."
He added: "Safety will be paramount and our teams have worked very well to deal with demand and ensure queue management so will continue to work hard to adapt to demand ahead of Christmas.
"We've seen very strong sales over the past few days and would expect similar today and tomorrow."
And shoppers are getting excided about the idea of being able to make a midnight-Primark run.
One person wrote on the Primark Hauls Facebook group: "I'm gonna miss sleeping."
Another added: "Midnight shopping trip!"
A third commented: "This isn't good for sleep walkers though - imagine sleep walking to Primark at 1am and emptying your bank account!"
The move makes sense, given Primark warned on Monday that the latest closures are expected to result in a £375million loss of sales ahead of the key Christmas period.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Retailers are highly dependent on the last few months of the year to sell products and those like Primark with no internet presence are going to be left out in the cold.
"It all comes down to the ability to survive a bleak winter and ABF seems confident it has the financial resources to come out the other side intact."
