It’s almost Christmas and retailers have gone festive crazy, with sparkles, glitter and amniatronics galore! Could this be the retail equivalent of ‘Keeping up with the Jones’?

Whatever it may be, we are frankly loving this Christmas spirit of decadence and exhuberence! In times of economic harship and with online sales sky rocketing, this may look a tad extravagant. However if ever there was a time to create theatre in store to drive footfall back onto the highstreet -- then this is it.

Check out our selection of the best from this year and Christmas’s past:

Swarovski Window, Harrods, London

A spectacular window display portraying an enchanted forest. Featuring thousands of sparkling Swarovski crystal elements of different shapes and sizes.

Karl Lagerfeld’s Windows at Printemp, Paris

An incredible display of imagination and fantasy featuring the Maestro himself and fabulous moving characters.

Watch the amazing video too:

 

Selfridges White Christmas, London

Epitomising this year’s White Christmas theme, the Oxford Street windows create a true winter wonderland in the heart of the capital.

Each pane of window has been transformed into an enchanting, oversized music box, some playing re-engineered carols whilst others provide eerie, magical sounds to evoke the feeling of a ‘crystal clear Christmas’. Admirers are encouraged to play around with the windows to their heart’s content as each pane is equipped with a state-of-the-art touch-screen wind-up system to control the track.

Get down to Selfridges to be immersed in your favourite festive tunes and guarantee yourself a White Christmas.

Agent Provocateur, London

I wouldn’t normally associate a robot with Christmas, but this is a clever play on ‘boys toys’ for saucy lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur and perfectly targeted at their shoppers at this time of year.

Lego Christmas Tree at St Pancras, London

Made from 600,000 Lego bricks, this HUGE Christmas tree is 40′ tall and is adorned with 1200 Lego baubles. Given 70% of toy sales  are made in the critical last two months pre-Christmas, this is a great vehicle for raising awareness of the brand in a high profile, high footfall area. However, one might question why this was sited so far away from the nearest Lego retailer. A pop up Augmented Reality Lego store could have enhanced this offer. Or  Lego could have created different baubles that represent different products, so that when you scan them with your mobile, it automatically opens up a Lego page for instant wins or online purchasing?

Harrods Christmas 2010, London

This one made it in for sheer wow factor. It literally stopped me in my tracks as I came out the Knightsbridge tube in Christmas 2010.

Harrods theme was the Wizard of Oz -- that old Christmas classic we all know and love!  The whole of the store was lit up in Emerald green and the Wicked Witch of the East’s ruby slippers could be seen, seemingly trapped underneath Harrods. At night the ruby slippers were lite up and glowed red. Fabulous interpretation of Christmas!