Saks Fifth Avenue nixes famed holiday lights show: ‘Challenging year’

It’s lights out for a beloved holiday tradition in Manhattan.

Saks Fifth Avenue’s annual holiday light show at its flagship location has been canceled after nearly two decades of yuletide spectacle — apparently because of cost-cutting, The Post has learned.

“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,” a Saks Fifth Avenue rep told The Post on Monday.

Now, instead of the glowing spectacular, “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 representative said.

The department store chain “acknowledged that it has been a challenging year for luxury, and, like others, we are carefully managing our business to ensure the company is best-positioned for the future.”

It appears the decision to cut the light show was only made within the past few weeks.

An October news release had announced that the Saks’ holiday campaign would go on this year, presented by MasterCard for the 15th year in a row.

With the light show now axed, this year’s holiday windows are set to instead display “outstanding pieces from the top names in luxury” alongside colorful snowflakes, silver harlequin flooring and dichroic vinyl, the rep said.

The nixed free wintertime tradition had been held annually at the flagship store at 611 Fifth Ave. since 2004 and would take place every few minutes during the evenings from late November to early January.

The event — near the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree — easily drew crowds of hundreds around Christmastime.

The production began humbly in its first year, with 50 giant snowflakes blinking to “Carol of the Bells” before graduating to digital projections in 2010 and then a mix of both physical and digital effects in 2015, according to Vice.

Last year’s show, a collaboration with luxury brand Dior dubbed “Dior’s Carousel of Dreams at Saks,” premiered to fanfare with a fireworks display. The light show itself used a whopping 300,000 LED lights across the building’s 10 stories in sync to holiday tunes.