Stand on Rue de Sèvres as the Windows Come Alive
It is early November, just after 4:30pm, and the light has already gone soft over the 7th arrondissement. The sidewalks of Rue de Sèvres are packed shoulder to shoulder, breath fogging in the cold, as Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche unveils its new Christmas windows. This is the store at 24 Rue de Sèvres whose windows face both Rue de Sèvres and Rue du Bac, and the inauguration is one of the most anticipated moments of the Paris holiday season. You stand among Parisians and visitors alike, watching the glass come to life with the year's theme — for 2026, colourful creatures and magical Parisian scenes across four special windows, with matching decorations inside the store.
The crowds gather on the sidewalks, and viewing from the street is free. Arrive early to claim a spot near the corner of Rue du Bac, where you can watch the display from two angles as the evening fills with onlookers.
Walk the Grands Magasins Circuit
Le Bon Marché is one of five grands magasins that stage animated Christmas windows each year, and you can make an evening — or several — of touring them. Each is free to view from the street, and each has its own character.
- Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche (24 Rue de Sèvres, Paris 7): four special windows on Rue de Sèvres, unveiled 7 November at 4:30pm.
- BHV Marais (52 Rue de Rivoli, Paris 4): windows from 4 November at 5pm through 31 December, with a Disney theme this year.
- Galeries Lafayette Haussmann (40 Bd Haussmann, Paris 9): windows by illustrator Jeanne Detallante from 12 November to 31 December, plus a suspended tree with 20,000 lights beneath the Art Nouveau dome, a glass walkway and a sound-and-light show.
- Printemps Haussmann (64 Bd Haussmann, Paris 9): the "Printemps Express" theme, from 5 November at 5pm through 31 December.
- La Samaritaine (19 Rue de la Monnaie, Paris 1): an enchanted winter garden theme, from 6 November at 6pm through 4 January.
For the Haussmann Boulevard pair, take Métro Chaussée d'Antin or La Fayette. Crowds are densest around noon and again in the late afternoon and evening, so mornings or mid-afternoon give you the clearest view of the glass.
See Why These Windows Matter
Le Bon Marché did not simply join the tradition — it started it. The store created its first Christmas window displays in 1893, with an inaugural scene of ice skating in the Bois de Boulogne. In 1909 it presented the first animated Christmas window display in history, staging Robert Peary's North Pole discovery with automatons by Gaston Descamps. Contemporary press described Santa Claus flying down Rue de Sèvres and Rue du Bac before entering the store.
Over the decades the themes have ranged widely: a funfair in 1922, Provence in 1946, space in 1969, the rooftops of Paris in 2012, Christmas trees in 2018. By the 1950s, competition among the department stores had turned the displays into a major draw, and an estimated 10 million spectators view the department store windows each year. The most elaborate take teams of artists, artisans and decorators up to a year to design and build — which is why a slow walk past the glass rewards a second pass.
Time Your Visit and Warm Up Nearby
New displays are unveiled each year starting in November, coinciding with the start of Paris's holiday lights, so the first half of the month is when the city's window season opens. The 2026 Le Bon Marché unveiling is set for 7 November at 4:30pm; the other stores open their windows across the first twelve days of November.
After the windows, the 7th arrondissement gives you plenty of places to thaw out — the store itself keeps matching decorations inside, and the surrounding streets of the Rive Gauche are made for an evening stroll. If you continue to the Haussmann stores, the 9th arrondissement keeps you close to the Métro and to the lit boulevards. Where a specific date is not fixed in the sources, treat the early-November window as your guide rather than a single evening.
Plan Around the Unveiling
Build your trip so that 7 November, 4:30pm, finds you on Rue de Sèvres — that is the moment the 2026 windows appear, and the crowd that gathers for it is part of the experience. From there, the grands magasins circuit unfolds across the rest of the month, with BHV Marais, Printemps, La Samaritaine and Galeries Lafayette all lighting up in the days around it. Check the individual stores' schedules as your dates approach, book your travel for early November, and give yourself at least one unhurried morning to see the glass without the crush.