Selfridges has launched its ‘storytelling’ Christmas displays that draw inspiration from fairytales including Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel.

The department store has decked out its iconic Oxford Street store with 25 fairytales.

Around 500 contractors and Selfridges team members worked on bringing the Christmas windows to life, with more than 32,000 hours spent on its display.

Selfridges has also installed a display on top of the canopy entrance to its Oxford Street store. Called ‘Destination Christmas’, the canopy installation features fairy tale symbols, such as the Golden Goose wearing a monocle and a top hat.

This installation weighs over two tons and features the biggest neon sign in London this Christmas, Selfridges said.

The storytelling theme also extends to inside the store. Visual merchandising continues the references to literary characters and words from a Selfridges-designed Christmas story seem to fall from the sky in its atrium area.

The Selfridges’ Christmas story is available to read in full and to listen to at Selfridges.com.

Performers from Story Stock are also present in store to bring some of the fairytales to life through interactive storytelling and shoppers can find characters like Alice, The Mad Hatter and Peter Pan roaming the store.

The storytelling theme extends to the Everyman cinema that Selfridges opened in its London store in September, which will feature classics such as Pinocchio and It’s a Wonderful Life.

The department store has also launched personal shoppers named ‘Elfridges’ in its London, Manchester and Birmingham stores to help customers find the perfect Christmas gift.

The elves can get to work while shoppers relax in Selfridges’ new Alpine-themed rooftop restaurant called Le Chalet, which serves up Alpine-inspired barbecue food and has a hot chocolate bar.