Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Saks Fifth Avenue says it won't be doing its usual holiday light show this season
By
Andrew Giambrone
Published Nov 11, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Liao Pan / China News Service via Getty Images
By
Andrew Giambrone
Published Nov 11, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Fifth Avenue is poised to look a little less merry this holiday season.
A spokesperson for Saks Fifth Avenue, the retail company behind the iconic store across from Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, said the flagship location will not be hosting a holiday light show this year, due to "changes in [its] approach to the holiday windows" on display around the end of every year. The show filled with lights timed to music has long been an annual draw for tourists and shoppers in Midtown.
"For many years, the holidays at Saks Fifth Avenue included a light show at our flagship store, and, for some time we have contemplated changing our approach," the spokesperson said in a statement. "In our 100th year, which also marks the anniversary of the flagship, we are celebrating the season by honoring the architectural significance of this iconic building, elegantly illuminating the façade and framing the holiday windows, as well as highlighting the fashion for which Saks Fifth Avenue is known."
The store's holiday windows will still be on display starting late this month, according to the statement. They will show pieces from luxury brands set against snowflake fragments, vinyl and other materials, as "magical jingles" play, the company said in a release last month.
Word of the cancelation first circulated on social media from influencers who cited workers in the store.
Tagged
new york city
manhattan
retail
holidays
saks fifth avenue
Andrew Giambrone
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .