This is the first of several posts on the most stunning, imaginative holiday windows you'll find around St. Louis, all within walking distance of one another in the CWE! And while you're enjoying all this fabulous creativity on the outside, stop in and see why shopping local is the most relaxed way to work through your shopping list this holiday season.
This is the 4th year that the CWE North Community Improvement District has sponsored a Window Walk Contest to encourage shopowners and restaurateurs to decorate their windows and give shoppers another reason to experience the neighborhood. Prizes are awarded in several categories, Celebrity Judge Awards and the People's Choice Awards, determined by popular vote.
The 2013 Celebrity Judges are Suzie Osterloh, owner/publisher of St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles, Ridley Pearson, author of Peter and the Starcatcher, and CWEnder and notable YA author, Antony John.
In a new twist this year, St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles, the media sponsor of the 2013 Window Walk, has paired interior designers with shops or restaurants that wanted assistance decorating their windows. For example, Moris Men's Fashions, 226 N. Euclid, above and below, is paired with Suzanne Woodard of The Refind Room. Retail businesses that did not use a professional designer fall into a separate category. The same is true for restaurants.
Bar Italia opted for the designer's touch, and let Ellen Kurtz Interiors work her magic, above and below.
Subliminal Subs, 22 Maryland Plaza, has great old-fashioned wreaths, one in the shape of a peace symbol.
Diane Fogerty of Savvy Surroundings Style decorated the shop windows at Bissingers, 32 Maryland Plaza.
The French Confectioner's large chocolate Santas are displayed on a table just inside the shop, above.
I'll post lots more shop/restaurant windows in the next couple of days. In the meantime, be sure to stop in and vote for your favorite windows. Voting concludes December 26.