It’s time for the annual installment of Dublin window shopping and decorations. Henry Street received new decorations this year, replacing the wreaths. Oddly, in my opinion anyway, they felt the need to include ‘Dublin one’ (aka Dublin 1) in the signage. For those who may not know, before Ireland received zip codes (Eircodes) last year, only Dublin had the equivalent of zip codes, dividing the county in to Dublin 1 to 24 starting with the north of the River Liffey part of the City Centre being Dublin 1 and south of the Liffey Dublin 2. (In case you’re really interested, here’s a link to a map.)
Henry Street (at O’Connell)
New Henry Street Decor
Old Henry Street Decor
Arnotts did a stellar job this year with its storybook theme which was interactive. In some of the pictures you can see a hand print to the right and/or left of the window. When pressed they would trigger additional lights or animation of the scene.
While Arnotts stepped it up a notch, the Brown Thomas windows, which still take the cake for décor, took it down a notch by adding triangular signs in some of the displays announcing their sales. In my humble opinion, it does detract from the traditional class and style they normally exude.
Even Marks and Spencer made an attempt at a non-commercial display. Maybe they’ll start to compete a bit more in the holiday window themes, especially this store across from Brown Thomas on Grafton Street.
Marks & Spencer
It’s not easy taking photos of the windows with all of the glare. I need to come up with a time of day when it’s not so annoying, though I have tried morning, evening, sunny and rainy days. Maybe a fancy SLR camera would do the trick, but that’s way down on my Santa wish list. Hope they bring you some joy, anyway.
Nollaig Shona Daoibh! (or Happy Christmas to ye!)
Mdmusings Ireland Blog 
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