diff --git a/src/spatialdata_io/_utils.py b/src/spatialdata_io/_utils.py
index c73a4d69..e60010a6 100644
--- a/src/spatialdata_io/_utils.py
+++ b/src/spatialdata_io/_utils.py
@@ -2,17 +2,28 @@
 
 import functools
 import warnings
+from contextlib import contextmanager
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, TypeVar
 
+import zarr
+
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from collections.abc import Callable
+    from collections.abc import Callable, Generator
+
+    from zarr import Array, Group
+    from zarr.core.common import (
+        AccessModeLiteral,
+    )
+    from zarr.storage import StoreLike
 
 RT = TypeVar("RT")
 
 
 # these two functions should be removed and imported from spatialdata._utils once the multi_table branch, which
 # introduces them, is merged
-def deprecation_alias(**aliases: str) -> Callable[[Callable[..., RT]], Callable[..., RT]]:
+def deprecation_alias(
+    **aliases: str,
+) -> Callable[[Callable[..., RT]], Callable[..., RT]]:
     """Decorate a function to warn user of use of arguments set for deprecation.
 
     Parameters
@@ -52,7 +63,12 @@ def wrapper(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> RT:
     return deprecation_decorator
 
 
-def rename_kwargs(func_name: str, kwargs: dict[str, Any], aliases: dict[str, str], class_name: None | str) -> None:
+def rename_kwargs(
+    func_name: str,
+    kwargs: dict[str, Any],
+    aliases: dict[str, str],
+    class_name: None | str,
+) -> None:
     """Rename function arguments set for deprecation and gives warning in case of usage of these arguments."""
     for alias, new in aliases.items():
         if alias in kwargs:
@@ -71,3 +87,17 @@ def rename_kwargs(func_name: str, kwargs: dict[str, Any], aliases: dict[str, str
                 stacklevel=3,
             )
             kwargs[new] = kwargs.pop(alias)
+
+
+# workaround until https://github.com/zarr-developers/zarr-python/issues/2619 is closed
+@contextmanager
+def zarr_open(
+    store: StoreLike | None = None,
+    *,
+    mode: AccessModeLiteral | None = None,
+) -> Generator[Array | Group, Any, None]:
+    f = zarr.open(store=store, mode=mode)
+    try:
+        yield f
+    finally:
+        f.store.close()
diff --git a/src/spatialdata_io/readers/xenium.py b/src/spatialdata_io/readers/xenium.py
index 31585c35..048660ce 100644
--- a/src/spatialdata_io/readers/xenium.py
+++ b/src/spatialdata_io/readers/xenium.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 
 from spatialdata_io._constants._constants import XeniumKeys
 from spatialdata_io._docs import inject_docs
-from spatialdata_io._utils import deprecation_alias
+from spatialdata_io._utils import deprecation_alias, zarr_open
 from spatialdata_io.readers._utils._read_10x_h5 import _read_10x_h5
 from spatialdata_io.readers._utils._utils import _initialize_raster_models_kwargs
 
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ def _get_labels_and_indices_mapping(
         with zipfile.ZipFile(zip_file, "r") as zip_ref:
             zip_ref.extractall(tmpdir)
 
-        with zarr.open(str(tmpdir), mode="r") as z:
+        with zarr_open(str(tmpdir), mode="r") as z:
             # get the labels
             masks = z["masks"][f"{mask_index}"][...]
             labels = Labels2DModel.parse(
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ def _get_cells_metadata_table_from_zarr(
         with zipfile.ZipFile(zip_file, "r") as zip_ref:
             zip_ref.extractall(tmpdir)
 
-        with zarr.open(str(tmpdir), mode="r") as z:
+        with zarr_open(str(tmpdir), mode="r") as z:
             x = z["cell_summary"][...]
             column_names = z["cell_summary"].attrs["column_names"]
             df = pd.DataFrame(x, columns=column_names)