Behind those magical traffic-stopping holiday windows

Rivaling New York City's 72-foot Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center for visitors are the enticing holiday windows all along Fifth Avenue. But from Galeries Lafayette in Paris to Harrods in London, top retailers of the world’s most important shopping cities participate in the tradition of decking out their windows with boughs of holly, animatronics, possibly even a Hollywood movie tie-in theme (such as Bloomingdales’ depictions of the new Dr Seuss’ The Grinch) to coincide with its theatrical release.