2019 Christmas Windows Tour

     This year's tour was a bit sad because many stores are gone: Barney's is going out of business, Lord & Taylor is gone, Henri Bendel's is gone, as well as 4 other stores.  We keep hearing about how well the economy is doing but you couldn't prove it by 5th Avenue.  Many of the remaining stores didn't bother to decorate so the usual tour was much shorter.
     We started at Bergdorf's but their windows weren't as good as in past years.  This was the best of the lot.

The fur nutcracker amused the crowd.

     Tiffany's did a cute series of windows involving mice.

Gucci went tropical.

Dolce and Gabbana went foodie.

The windows of the former Henri Bendel's showed the work of the 5th Avenue Business Improvement District as they hired local artists to make street scenes to fill the empty windows.

The Peninsula Hotel had new decorations, although we aren't sure what they are; the figures look like stylized bellhops playing instruments.

Cartier did their usual wrapped building with panthers.

The Rockefeller Center tree.

Saks did a Frozen 2 theme.

One of the buildings rented window to 4 businesses who decorated 1 window each to publicize their companies; these windows were some of the best decorations.

Hazel Village made a fabric lanscape

Raw Honey

A chocolatier

Either Patience or Fortitude in from the New York Public Library.  It was actually so dark that I didn't have much hope of getting a photo but my new phone came through like a champ.

It was sad to see that this is what the street level of Lord & Taylor looks like as some company ripped out the bottom floor to redo it.  Since We Work is in such financial trouble, I am not sure who is doing the construction.

Macy's was doing a story about a girl who wants to be Santa Clause and so becomes Santa Girl.  Couldn't quite follow the story but the windows were kind of fun.

That was it, so we went home.  I hope you have enjoyed this years abbreviated tour; let's hope next year is more festive.

Christmas Windows 2018

Thankfully, the weather this year was a lot warmer than last year, so touring the windows on Christmas Eve was a much nicer experience.

We started at Barney's but their windows this year were just sheets of pennies because they are doing some kind of charity campaign- wasn't even worth taking photos.
     Bergdorf's, our next stop, didn't disappoint, though, with their celebration of all things sweet: psychedelic candy canes, multi-colored goodies, a robot that dispenses soft-serve ice cream, gingerbread, and more.

The building near Bergdorf's always puts up some giant candy canes and Don got a good photo of them this year.  They are harder to photograph than you think.

Here is the traditional snowflake on 5th Ave and the decoration on Tiffany's.  Bulgarie did not put up their gigantic snake this year; in fact, they really didn't decorate.

Louis Vuitton took up the slack and decorated their windows with "trees" from around the world.  This first window reminded us of our Texas family.

This window was a tree made of plastic tubing with many fun ornaments depicting holiday
celebrations from around the world.

The tree sported ornaments like these, but I would love to know which culture celebrates a holiday with sparkly suitcases on top of an ostrich.

Tiffany paid homage to Artistic Director, Gene Moore, who spent over 50 years designing displays for the store.  This year, a number of the windows feature a robot from one of Gene's windows from the 1960s.

Coke decorated their store front.

The St. Regis Hotel had plenty of twinkling trees.

Coach did a variety of fanciful animals.

I forgot which store this was, but they put up giant, red, ornaments.

Feragamo put up their over-the-top bow.

Cartier wrapped their building with the big, red, bow and did some fun windows, as well.

As usual, Rockefeller Center was a zoo; in fact, we got separated and it took me quite a while to find Don.  We did get a few photos of the tree.

Lego did a version of Hogwarts for one of their windows this year.

Sak's windows just looked like merchandising to me but they are supposed to be the story of a shopper's visit to the theater.

  The traditional light and music show on the outside of Sak's building had been stopped on Christmas Eve because of service next door at St. Patrick's so we had to come back for those the next day to see the salute to Broadway.

H and M did a fun display with wrapped presents that still retained their shapes place among electronic signs that said things like Don't Peek.

Lord and Taylor, in the midst of closing their flagship store, just did a video montage of past windows.

Macy's widows told the story of astronaut Sunny the Snowpal, who joins her friends to help Santa deliver presents.

My favorite window was the one with the snowy scene on top and the comfy burrows underneath.

We ended our tour at Herald Square because it was getting late.  May our tour start your new year off on a high note.