On uptown Madison Avenue, it’s a war of class versus mass — mass transit, that is.

Store owners on the gilded stretch between East 57th and East 77th streets want to red-light a city plan to install nine bus shelters at stops along the fancy avenue’s eastern side.

Merchants say the shelters will block their windows and cost them business. Civic leaders fear the shelters would spoil their whole neighborhood — the Upper East Side Historic District, where the Landmarks Preservation Commission stands guard over significant changes.

Community Board 8 chair Alida Camp wants the Department of Transportation to “look for alternative locations” for new shelters. Madison Avenue Business Improvement District President Matt Bauer said they “would ruin the character of the historic district.”

A DOT spokesman said the agency plans to “consult” with the LPC on the shelters’ design. But both Bauer and Camp want the LPC to decide whether the shelters should be allowed at all.

“These bus-shelter structures, permanently bolted to the sidewalk, should go through the same landmarks approval process” as for other sidewalk changes, Bauer said — as was done for modular newspaper boxes, which are much smaller than bus sheds.

Ed Wallace, a lawyer for bus-shelter franchise holder JCDecaux, noted, “People complain about bus shelters in every jurisdiction but only until they’re actually installed.”

The world’s wealthiest people flock to uptown Madison Avenue boutiques including Ralph Lauren, Asprey and Chanel. Boldfaces congregate in restaurants such as Nello, Como Prima and Kappo Masa.

But there are 40 vacant stores in the 20-block stretch and shelter opponents fear it’ll get worse.

Bauer said, “We are concerned about the bus shelters blocking storefronts, making the sidewalk too narrow for comfort, and for diminishing the physical character of the street with ultra-bright digital ads.”

Bus riders don’t seem to care much. Neighborhood resident Perri Bogart said, “I enjoy looking at the buildings and architecture and a bus stop may interfere with the view.”

But Kim Bourke, an owner of Australian menswear designer Joe Bananas at 943 Madison at 75th Street, said a bus shelter in front of his window would be “catastrophic.”

He spent over $1 million — not including rent — to open last January. He chose the building “specifically for its street presence” in a district that was supposedly safe from major changes.

But a 14-foot-long shelter plopped just seven feet in front of his 10-foot-long storefront would make it hard to see his colorful men’s jackets.

Because he’s in the historic district, “We had to go through a very strict approval process” for the Landmarks panel to approve his window display design.

Sermonetta shop owner Federico Lopez Stefaneli says a shelter in front of his shop at 609 Madison at East 58th Street might cost him “twenty percent of our business during the winter months.”

Maya Ahluwalia, marketing director of the LaLique boutique next door, said, “We invest heavily in our windows and change them every six to eight weeks. They need to be visible to people.”

Bauer noted that both the LPC and zoning rules forbid “internally illuminated box signs with glass or plastic covers” at stores in the historic district.

“That’s exactly what the DOT would be doing with shelter signs,” Bauer said.

Camp agreed, “The DOT is violating the city’s own rules.”

The DOT said the shelters would “provide benches and weather relief for all riders. Major bus corridors around the city have bus shelters, which are regularly requested by bus riders.”

But critics say the idea is mainly to raise more cash for the city, which will rake in over $57 million in franchise fees alone from JCDecaux and a total of $100 million including a split on the ad revenue.

The DOT plans to send the bus shelter plan to the Franchise and Concession Review Committee for a hearing on a date yet to be chosen.

Additional reporting by Anissa Lorenzi Boukourizia