returned to whiterun after a quest 1pm in the afternoon and all shops except the armorer are closed and locked?! whats that about?? holiday???

Fast traveling and waiting for extended periods can make the AI get a bit lost at times.

heh, in my game the... "someone's curiousities" shop is always closed and the only time he's home is when he's sleepnig, at which time he's unwilling to speak to me

fantastic..so that means these shops are now broken for me? great...these are the kind of bugs i love especially since they dont work with any of my savegames...can you reverse this anyhow?

Just sleep overnight in town and it should be fine again.

Maybe they are on holiday?

I've seen several shops closed during the 8am-8pm hours....I think it's just random glitch....they eventually reopen if you wait.

In my game the comapnions quest bugged and the the guy from the war maiden smith shop is standing outside the companion hall. I think he was part of the fight but he wont return to the shop. Only the girl who smiths outside shows up on schedule but the shop itself is locked always.

This is my issue. The guy is always in there ready to buy, but I have to use the unlock console command to get in. Kind of a pain.

There is a time bubble around the player character which causes dilation effects if you are standing too close to a door (perhaps waiting for it to open) so when you skip ahead in time the NPC that should be unlocking the door to open it gets slowed down trying to get to it. Try skipping ahead an hour once or twice, should give them enough time to get to the door and open up shop.

No I am not kidding, shops too close to you will stay shut sometimes if you skip ahead. I think it has to do with the same effect that causes you to drag NPCs with you when entering and exiting places if you are too close to them at the time.

Gravity well?

I went to Winterhold and there is a shop on the left that had nobody in it. It was unlocked but no shop keep

this happens to me, i just wait in front of the shop and it normally unlocks.