Sometimes, window shopping can be just as fun as the real thing. That’s especially true in Downtown Saratoga Springs, where elaborate window displays regularly stop shoppers in their tracks, whether they end up going into the shop or not. (Just think G. Willikers intricate displays during the holiday season.) Two such displays belong to sister boutiques Lifestyles and Caroline & Main, which recently welcomed younger brother Union Hall, a menswear store, to the block.
Caroline & Main’s window display, which, fittingly, is located on the corner of Caroline Street and Broadway, currently features three summery looks encircled by rings of woven baskets on ivory stepping stools. Across Caroline Street, under a white and gray awning, sits Lifestyles, which in a two-window display promotes six of the boutique’s dresses, all perfect for a day at the races. Both shops, as well as Union Hall, are owned by Heidi West, who tells saratoga living that she changes the displays seasonally. At the present moment, of course, the shops are targeting the Saratoga Race Course and Philadelphia Orchestra crowd, but in June, for example, the displays honored the rainbow colors of Pride Month.
A few doors down from Lifestyles is Northshire Bookstore, which exhibits a regularly changing, bifurcated book display: One side features adult books, the other, children’s books, each display including books that pertain to a single topic or theme. This week, the children’s side is all about sharks, coinciding with the Discover Channel’s Shark Week. The week that included Saturday, July 20, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, featured books on the adult and children’s books sides about the moon and space.
Of course, we only scratched the surface with this story; there are countless other businesses in Downtown Saratoga that have whimsical window displays meant to entice locals and the throngs of visitors who venture to Saratoga every summer for the races. If you end up buying something at one of the many Downtown businesses, it’s entirely possible you did it because of a shop’s display. Talk about “display advertising.” Check out a photo gallery of some of our favorite window displays above.
