Saks Fifth Avenue

Theme: “Snowflake Spectacular.”
Saks has prime real estate right across from the Rockefeller Center tree. This year the windows are all about snow, a Saks specialty. From windows full of snow globes to a video featuring chalk stop-motion animation by an Australian artist duo, the white stuff is the star of the show. There’s even an interactive window, because as Harry Cunningham, SVP of Visual at Saks, told us, “People love surprise and interactivity–people love to see themselves.” (Which is why the internet is thriving.)

How: The Saks team had to test out the resilience of snow globes because a snow globe gets maybe 100 “turn-overs” in its life, but Saks anticipated that their snow globes would get thousands in six weeks (they sit on wall that “comes to life” and flips them.)

Fun fact: They purchased many of the snowglobes from eBay. One was made in their studio out of an old Mason jar. There are also 14 snow globes in the window that represent the 14 cities where Saks does business.