Comment: Christmas windows are about more than driving sales

Walking along Oxford Street yesterday early afternoon it would have been pretty easy to feel miserable.

The rain was belting down in a manner that would have had Noah heading for the Ark and the double-deckers were soaking anyone foolish enough to stand on the pavement less than 2m from the road.

Yet there were smiles, fewer of them because the weather was taking its toll on shopper numbers, but they were in evidence. And for the most part, it was the Christmas windows wot done it.

Whether it was the somewhat vulgar, but eye-catching, golden cab in one of Selfridges’ windows or multiple versions of Monty the telegenic penguin doing his thing as part of the John Lewis seasonal offering, there was much to look at.

Christmas spirit

The point about all of it was whether it was putting people in the mood for buying.

Those that had braved the weather were certainly brandishing their phones and cameras, and many were headed through the doors of the big players along the street.

It is a moot point, however, whether they were doing so because of what they had seen in the windows or because the usual seasonal desperation was setting in and it was better to get the whole thing over and done in late November than to put up with the December hordes.

This is to rather overlook what Christmas displays are about, however. They are certainly mood-setters and may possibly be Yuletide stampede inducers, but they are principally there because that’s what we expect at this time of year.

Imagine for a moment an Oxford Street that had no Christmas lights, no displays of conspicuous plenty in the store windows and where the run-up to December 25 was marked by shoppers carrying out their festive duty but in a glum manner.

If Christmas were celebrated in North Korea, perhaps this is what it might be like, except that there’d be little that you’d want to be given that was actually in the shops.

Do not therefore ask what it’s all about. The chances are things would be pretty dull if it didn’t happen and if shop didn’t do what they do and we’d all feel the lack.

Retailers provide a service, as much as anything else, in marking the impending Holiday season. We should be thankful.

Christmas windows happen every year, but picture what it would be like if they didn’t…