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New Yorkers are mourning the loss of Saks’ scrapped annual holiday light show at its Manhattan flagship this year — though its replacement designer window displays are still a hit with tourists.
A Maryland couple made the trip to the posh retailer’s Fifth Avenue store Sunday afternoon because “my mom loves Christmas decorations,” their daughter Emily told The Post.
Despite hearing about the cancellation of Saks’ famed light show outside the store this holiday season, the family trekked to view the luxury displays in their place despite the nearly freezing temperatures.
“It’s still pretty out,” mom Marge said. “And we still had to see it. This was one of the stops.”
A Colorado visitor said, “It’s art, and you don’t have to like what you see.
“I think it’s beautiful,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “It’s the highlight of our afternoon.”
“I love fashion, so I love it,”
A German-born woman who was visiting from Oklahoma with her husband added, “I just said, ‘We’re not in Oklahoma anymore! ’”
But New York City and metro-area residents were less than impressed.
“We’re very disappointed,” said a New Jersey mom named Anastasia, who had visited the store’s past storied displays with her husband and daughter for more than a decade.
“I’m sure it was a big to-do, setting up the whole thing, but it was definitely a destination on Fifth Avenue,” she said of the previous spectacular light show and its “much more elaborate [display] windows going all around.”
“It pales in comparison to … Bergdorf Goodman,” her husband Andy added of Saks this year. “That’s the ultimate experience.”
Longtime Lincoln Square resident Laurie said she will still make her annual Christmastime trek to see the various displays on Fifth Avenue even sans its light show but lamented the experience isn’t the same.
Upper East Sider Diana Nur said she isn’t “too excited” about the more low-key window displays, either, but is glad the light show is over because “it just seems wasteful.”
The annual light show, which was canned because of financial reasons, historically brought long lines of window-gazers every year.
A Saks rep said the chain “acknowledged that it has been a challenging year for luxury, and, like others, we are carefully managing our business to ensure the company is best-positioned for the future.”
Last year’s final light show, a collaboration with luxury brand Dior dubbed “Dior’s Carousel of Dreams at Saks,” featured 300,000 LED lights across the building’s 10 stories to the tune of classic holiday anthems.
This year’s window display without the lights debuted last week and features “outstanding pieces from the top names in luxury” alongside colorful snowflakes, silver harlequin flooring and dichroic vinyl, the rep said. The holiday windows will be on display through Jan. 5.
While out-of-towners admired the tinsel-adorned “fashion” and pastel designs from Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino and more, New Yorkers griped they lacked of creativity and holiday flair.
“I was expecting it to be more festive, it used to be more Christmas-y,” said a woman named Susan, who grew up between Westchester County and Midtown and now lives in Charlotte, NC.
Susan’s sister Barbara said, “It’s not a Christmas, family [display].
“It used to be whimsical and holiday-themed,” Barbara said.
A longtime New Yorker, Jane, said, “I’m disappointed that there’s not a story.
“They always had such intricate windows,” she said.
Susan added, “It’s more like a New Years’ [Eve] thing than holiday-[themed].
“A couple of dresses look like they popped out of a bottle. No, I wouldn’t tell anyone to come see it.”