Saks Fifth Avenue says it won't be doing its usual holiday light show this season

Fifth Avenue is poised to look a little less merry this holiday season.

A spokesperson for Saks Fifth Avenue, the retail company behind the iconic store across from Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, said the flagship location will not be hosting a holiday light show this year, due to "changes in [its] approach to the holiday windows" on display around the end of every year. The show filled with lights timed to music has long been an annual draw for tourists and shoppers in Midtown.

"For many years, the holidays at Saks Fifth Avenue included a light show at our flagship store, and, for some time we have contemplated changing our approach," the spokesperson said in a statement. "In our 100th year, which also marks the anniversary of the flagship, we are celebrating the season by honoring the architectural significance of this iconic building, elegantly illuminating the façade and framing the holiday windows, as well as highlighting the fashion for which Saks Fifth Avenue is known."

The store's holiday windows will still be on display starting late this month, according to the statement. They will show pieces from luxury brands set against snowflake fragments, vinyl and other materials, as "magical jingles" play, the company said in a release last month.

Word of the cancelation first circulated on social media from influencers who cited workers in the store.