Window shopping during the holiday season

Everyone loves to window shop at Christmas time.

In the early 1960s my dad and I would ride the BMT from Ave M to 34th Street in Manhattan. He was in the decorating business and took me with him to the city so I could appreciate the magnificent department store window displays. 

Macy’s was always the first store with a Santa Claus outside the door. The windows were vibrant with high-styled clothing similar to the fashions of Jackie Kennedy. In the early ’60s she was our American queen. Pink skirt suits with matching pill box hats, plaid shift dresses, elbow length gloves, bows, and of course, the Jackie cape. Men’s hats made of felt and leather were a must have. There wasn’t a dad who didn’t wear a suit with narrow neck tie and Nunn Bush leather lace up shoes. The only thing missing from the men’s window was a Marlboro dangling from a mannequin’s hand. I loved the Macy’s window and wanted everything I saw. 

I told myself that someday I will come here and buy it all. As a teenager with a small allowance I had big dreams and very little money. My mother told me that if I didn’t study and do well in school I’d never be able to afford any of it. That was all I needed to hear. I studied!

Over the years I was able to go back to Macy’s and Bloomingdales and was awestruck at the inventiveness and creativity that goes into window dressing. It made shopping fun. If I saw a coat on an outside display I would dash in to seize it, capture it and make it my own.

There was once a store in Garden City called Martins. They had a brown suede coat in their window with fox trim. That  coat had to be mine. If I didn’t notice it on display I probably never would have bought it. Windows send big signals to the brainwaves of impulsive shoppers … pick me ... please!

Now as a grandmother in my late 60s I surprise myself by going to see the windows on display and not really wanting any of it. ‘Been there and done that.’ ‘I think I’m a little old for that’ or ‘Rather buy the grandkids something than myself.’

What has happened to me? I have come to a point in my life where just the looking is intoxicating enough without the thrill of big brown bag material happiness. I guess I have come to appreciate the store window for what it is and know whom it is for. The ripped jeans, pointed sweaters and high fashion boots are there to admire. I study them and realize they don’t rock my world. Perhaps next time something will.

When my two granddaughters, Annie and Maya, are old enough I will take them to see the sights. I am sure they will want me to buy them everything they see. Then the choice becomes ‘grandma will buy you anything you want because she loves you so much’ or ‘kids, you better get home and study or you will never be able to afford any of this.’

Weinberger is a North Woodmere resident.