Two weeks out from Christmas, the footpath outside Sydney’s flagship David Jones store would usually be packed with eager-eyed families lining up to view the retailer’s traditional festive window display.

But on Friday morning, Elizabeth Street was mostly empty. An upset-looking child in a pram stared forlornly at a Valentino advertisement.

Sydneysiders have come out swinging after the department store replaced its famous Christmas window display with a celebration of its new loyalty program and associated mascot, Domino the Dalmatian.

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A spokesperson said “We acknowledge that this year’s display has fallen short of expectations and has not reflected what many in the community were hoping for.

“This year, we’re celebrating A Very Rewarding Christmas – a season all about the joy of giving, cherishing moments with loved ones, and enjoying the benefits of our new loyalty program,” the spokesperson said.

“To reflect this theme, the Elizabeth Street windows feature Domino the Dalmatian, our symbol of loyalty, Domino in our campaign.

“We greatly value our customers’ feedback and will take it on board as we plan future celebrations. We look forward to delighting our customers next year.”

The “animation” includes a 2D Domino, dressed up in a red bow, mechanically wagging its tail and waving its paw beside “Qantas Points” baubles and casually dressed mannequins.

The tagline, A Very Rewarding Christmas, is stamped onto various parcels and gift tags, beside a haphazard mix of products, from Bluey Monopoly to a Smeg coffee machine and Marc Jacobs perfume.

Social media users on the historical Facebook page Sydney Then and Now said it marked a sad decline from the lively displays of the 1960s onwards.

“Such a pity,” one wrote. “In the 60s my mum and dad would take me to see the displays and I took my own boys in the 90s, it was such a special tradition we all loved.”

Another person wrote: “Mum would take my brother and I every year to see the store windows and visit Santa. It was always an exciting day out into the city. Pity DJs are putting gratuitous advertising of their store credit card before the joy of families over the Christmas season.”

The inclusion of Domino seemed to anger many. Sky News host Caleb Bond berated David Jones for opting to promote “some bloody dalmatian” over a “lovely Christmas display that David Jones have been doing for decades”.

Radio 2GB listener Maynard similarly described the dalmatian as a “load of crap”.

“We all love dalmatians, but they don’t have a lot to do with Christmas, with respect to those wonderful dogs,” she told the station.

The demise of the Christmas display could be partially due to changing shopping habits.

Official data shows the volume of retail trade has fallen for the fifth quarter out of the past six, attributed to cost-of-living concerns and a decline in discretionary spending.

David Jones is yet to file its accounts with the corporate regulator but reported a $74m loss in the 2024 financial year. Rival Myer reported a net loss for the year to June 2025 was $211m.

Yet despite is downturn, the main Myers store in Melbourne’s CBD has celebrated its 70th window display this year with a Lego collaboration that was 12 months in the making.

The six windows facing Bourke Street mall, unveiled in November, feature almost 500,000 Lego bricks telling the story of a child’s letter traveling from Melbourne’s post office to Santa’s north pole workshop.

Myer’s Christmas windows have always been held in the business’s home city of Melbourne, while David Jones has opted to dress its store in Sydney.

Myer’s executive chair, Olivia Wirth, said its Christmas windows had “delighted and created moments of magic and joy for generations since they were launched in 1956”.

“Visiting the windows is a much-loved Christmas tradition for many families, and last year were viewed by more than one million people.”

Bourke Street was bustling on Friday morning with the queue for the Myer windows stretching halfway along the David Jones storefront next door. (The David Jones windows, like in Sydney, were displaying rewards program paraphernalia.)

Pete and Sarah made the trip in from Mount Eliza with their four-year-old son, Ethan, whose favourite display was Lego motorbike.

The couple didn’t visit the windows when they were children, so now they come every year to make up for lost time – and entertain their son.

“They put so much time and effort into it to make it look great. It’s the windows, you’ve got to go.”