Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

West entrance

The Bronner's Christmas Wonderland is an American retailer of Christmas decoration items . It is based in the small town of Frankenmuth in Saginaw County of the state of Michigan . According to its own information, Bronner's Christmas Wonderland is the world's largest Christmas store with an assortment of over 50,000 items (“World's Largest Christmas Store”). This makes Bronner's the region's biggest tourist attraction. The range includes Christmas decorations, artificial Christmas trees, lighting, Christmas cribs of all kinds and price ranges.

history

The company was founded in 1945 by the German-speaking sign painter Wallace "Wally" Bronner (1927-2008) in Frankenmuth, a place whose founders were predominantly Lutheran emigrants from Middle Franconia . His paternal great-grandfather came from Pfaffenhofen near Heilbronn . In 1954 Bronner opened the first shop with decorations for Christmas. In 1986 he received the "Golden Santa Claus" from the Nuremberg Toy Fair . In 1998 he stepped down as CEO but remained chairman of the company until his death . Bronner's business is still owned and run by members of the family, led by his son Wayne Bronner.

Open 361 days a year (except on Christmas Eve, New Year, Easter and Thanksgiving ), Bronner's is now visited by more than two million people annually, including 2000 groups of visitors. Around 50,000 visitors come on the weekend after Thanksgiving alone. On the 27 acres (109,000 m² = five and a half football fields) site there are several contiguous sales halls built in the pseudo-alpine chalet style (with a flat gable roof and farm-like facades), which give a total sales area of 29,700 m² (almost two football fields).

The Bronner's Silent Night Memorial Chapel , which is open daily , is a copy of the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf near Salzburg , built in 1992 with Austrian permission , which commemorates the first public performance of the Christmas carol Silent Night in 1818. The song is played in the chapel, translated into numerous languages, in an endless loop all year round. Visits and meditation are possible in the chapel, but there are no services.

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland visitors are greeted by signs in 60 languages. At the entrances there are, among other things, three 5 meter high Santa Claus figures, a 5 meter high snowman and a life-size Christmas crib scene. In the interior of the sales halls, Christmas carols are presented, Santa Clauses dance and well over 700 moving figures entertain the audience. Around 350 decorated Christmas trees in different styles, sparkling fairy lights, Christmas decorations and background music offer visitors a shopping experience that is supposed to be reminiscent of a Central European Christmas market . Half a mile (800 meters) long, the main street of the market, Bronner's Christmas Lane , is illuminated by around a hundred thousand glittering lights every evening. Bronner's electricity bill is reportedly $ 900 per day.

Much of the Christmas decorations on offer are self-developed designs, manufactured exclusively for Bronner's in the USA, Europe and above all Asia. In addition to actual Christmas decorations, there are also assortments for other festive days, wooden nutcrackers, plush toys, jukeboxes, putti figures, religious devotional objects, candles and collectible figurines from Hummel (company founder Bronner himself was a collector of Hummel porcelain figurines), Precious Moments (exclusive distribution in the USA by Bronner's), Department 56, Fontanini, and other trademarks. For this purpose, sales shows and demonstrations are offered three times a year. In December, Santa Claus listens to the children's wishes every day, at Easter the Easter Bunny comes . Videos about the company's history, the range and the Silent Night Memorial Chapel are shown in a screening room.

In addition to the brick and mortar store, Bronner's Christmas Wonderland has its own commercial decoration department serving cities, shopping malls, companies and film sets as its customers, a wholesale department for large customers such as chain stores and churches, and an Internet mail order business. In the high season between October and December, Bronner's employs more than 500 people.

Web links

43.313888888889 -83.736944444444Coordinates: 43 ° 18 ′ 50 " N , 83 ° 44 ′ 13" W.