A display window is a window

Window

A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...

 in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customer

Customer

A customer is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services...

s to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in the front façade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

 of the shop. Display windows at boutique

Boutique

A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....

s usually have dressed-up mannequin

Mannequin

A mannequin is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and others especially to display or fit clothing...

s in them.

Putting a window display of merchandise in a store’s window is called "window dressing

Window dresser

Window dressers arrange displays of goods in shop windows or within a shop itself. They may work for design companies contracted to work for clients or for department stores, independent retailers, airport or hotel shops....

", which is also used to describe the items displayed themselves. As a figure of speech

Figure of speech

A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...

, "window dressing" means something done to make a better impression, and sometimes implies something dishonest or deceptive.

See also

• A Guide to Window-Dressing
  A Guide to Window-Dressing
  A Guide to Window-Dressing is an illustrated anonymous publication and handbook on the subject of window-dressing first printed in London in 1883...
  
  (book)
• Display case
  Display case
  A display case is a cabinet with one or often more transparent glass sides and/or top, used to display objects for viewing, for example in an exhibition, museum, house, in retail, or a restaurant. Often labels are included with the displayed objects, providing information...
  
  
• Potemkin village
  Potemkin village
  Potemkin villages or Potyomkin villages is an idiom based on a historical myth. According to the myth, there were fake settlements purportedly erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigory Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787...
  
  
• Retail design
  Retail design
  Retail design is a creative and commercial discipline that combines several different areas of expertisetogether in the design and construction of retail space...
  
  
• Visual merchandising
  Visual merchandising
  Visual merchandising is the activity and profession of developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays in order to maximise sales.Both goods or services can be displayed to highlight their features and benefits...
  
  
• Window dresser
  Window dresser
  Window dressers arrange displays of goods in shop windows or within a shop itself. They may work for design companies contracted to work for clients or for department stores, independent retailers, airport or hotel shops....