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BUSINESS
Macy's Inc.

NYC holiday windows - see them here

Click on the trees above to check out New York City's most notable holiday window displays

Hadley Malcolm
USA TODAY
Walking tour of the Big Apple's festive holiday window displays.

'Tis the season to gawk at festive holiday displays — and this year's crop of retail facades are sure to draw attention. Stores such as Tiffany, Macy's and Lord & Taylor have unveiled elaborate displays filled with bright colors, unique characters and a plethora of holiday pizzazz.

Festive store windows have been a New York holiday tradition since the 1870s, when Macy's started featuring dolls in Christmas scenes. Since then, the scenes have transformed into elaborate, animated and interactive displays at all the major department stores along Fifth Avenue.

This year, Macy's showcases the story of a boy who imagines what Christmas would be like on other planets. Bergdorf Goodman's windows are centered around the arts, featuring influential figures in literature, architecture, sculpture, film, dance, theater and painting. Barney's partnered with film director Baz Luhrmann and his costume-designer wife Catherine Martin for an elaborate display of optical illusions, a giant mechanical owl, and psychedelic 'love mixtape' boom box surrounded by rainbow-colored mushrooms.

The planning starts a year in advance, from discussing ideas to rendering designs to manufacturing the pieces and then installing scenes, says Roya Sullivan, national director of window presentation at Macy's.

"We like to combine the old school artistry of sculptural pieces with mechanical and digital ability," she says. "It's truly an art."

Some windows are more commercial, like Bloomingdale's modern display of chic party-goers and interactive touchscreens.

Sibyl McCormac Groff, a New York tour guide and historian who leads a Christmas walking tour of Manhattan, says she's drawn to whimsical windows. This year, her favorites are Bergdorf-Goodman's.

"They are so creative," she says. "Look at the work that went into it. Those are just fabulous."

As technology has evolved, so have the displays. Once lit with gas lights, windows now come to life with multi-colored LED light shows and video screens. One of the Macy's windows is interactive: a touchscreen portion of the glass invites people to play a game called Neptune Wars that, once completed, lights up an ice city depicted on the distant planet.

To a degree, the windows have "become competitive," Groff says, an opportunity to draw in shoppers during what has become the most crucial time of year for sales. But Sullivan says the windows are about honoring a tradition and the excitement of the season. "It is our gift to the city," she says. "We reach into every person's inner child and bring out the magic of Christmas."

Indeed, Macy's helped solidify New York's reputation as a Christmas destination with holiday windows and then its Santaland, Groff says, immortalized in the film classic Miracle on 34th Street, about a department store Santa put on trial for believing he's the real deal.

The displays remain a nod to New York's storied holiday history, one that led Groff to coin the term Gothamtide for the city's secular festivity – "to show the commonality that we all have," she says. "It's just the excitement here."

Saks Fifth Avenue's "enchanted experience" theme features classic fairytale characters such as Cinderella and Prince Charming visiting and shopping in New York City.
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