Bronner's keeps the lights on for Santa in Frankenmuth, Michigan

If you're looking for Santa Claus, a good place to start would be a small Michigan town called Frankenmuth, where Bronner's Christmas store keeps the spirit of the holiday alive year round.

Visitors turn off of Frankenmuth's Main Street and travel a half-mile side road, driving past outsized Nativity figures, Santas, and snowmen--before finally arriving at 25 Christmas Lane, home to Bronner's and all things Christmas.

Bronner's is nirvana for Christmas enthusiasts, but be forewarned that if acres and acres of Christmas displays and an unabashed embrace of the holiday's Christian character isn't your cup of tea, a little bit of Bronner's may go a long way for you. Still, it's something you have to stop and see to at least say that you did so!

Billed as the "World's Largest Christmas Store", the building itself looks relatively low-key from the outside (sort of a mash-up between multiple pole barns and Alpine-style chalets), but Christmas lovers will delight in the treasures held inside.

Bronner's is big. Really big.

Just how big is it?

The 7.35-acre building is the size of 5-1/2 football fields and sits on 27 acres of land.

A parking lot that can accommodate over 1,000 cars and 50 buses at any given time means you don't have to worry about where to park your ride.

Bronner's draws over 2 million visitors each year to shop and gawk at over 50,000 trims and gifts, more than 350 decorated Christmas trees, and more than 700 animated figures. Many visitors come from Michigan and surrounding states, but most months find visitors coming from all 50 states, Canada, and from elsewhere around the world.

Shoppers snap up 1.3 million glass ornaments, 700,000 feet of garland, and 135,000 light sets each year. You can choose from over 500 different styles of Nativity scenes, Bibles in several languages, or 150 different styles of nutcrackers.

The store racks up something like $900 in electricity charges every day, much of which goes to power as many as 100,000 individual lights that decorate the store's interior.

The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is, of course, the busiest time of the year at Bronner's. Santa holds court for as many as 12,000 children at the store during that time, and as many as 50,000 people may visit the store on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Bronner's is one of the area's largest employers, with over 500 employees working at the store during the peak months of November and December. Consider the fact that the city of Frankenmuth has fewer than 5,000 residents, and that tourism drives the Bavarian-themed city's economy, then you understand just how important big Bronner's is to this small town.

Many visitors make a day, or even a weekend, out of visiting Bronner's, hitting one of Frankenmuth's all-you-can-eat chicken dinner restaurants, and shopping in the cute downtown stores or at the nearby outlet mall out on the I-75 expressway less than two hours' drive north of Detroit.

I've always lived within a couple hours' drive from Bronner's, and I grew up visiting the store at least every couple of years or so--and not just during the holidays. The store is open 361 days a year, closing only on New Year's Day, Easter, U.S. Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

I can remember several visits, when stepping into the winter fantasy land of Bronner's was the perfect antidote to a hot summer day.

I have many fond memories of Bronner's. I bought a number of my tree ornaments there, and a simple bronze-colored spire of a tree-topper I scored out of Bronner's sale bin years ago for $3, graces my tree every year.

The spirit behind Bronner's is founder Wally Bronner, a sign painter who parlayed his love of Christmas decorations and talent for creating displays into a Christmas themed business.

Bronner began painting signs as a high school student in 1943. He began his full-time business career with his 1945 high school graduation, establishing several different businesses before building the big Bronner's store on Christmas Lane in 1977.

Wally Bronner loved his career and remained with the company as the chairman of its board and chief ambassador of good cheer until his April 1, 2008 death at the age of 81. Bronner's wife Irene continues to carry on the tradition Wally loved so much, running the business with several of her children and their spouses, and keeping the lights on for Santa!

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Frankenmuth

Comments

[Cindy La Ferle]

Wow -- perfect post for the season! You brought back some memories too... I haven't been to Bronner's in quite a while, but it's definitely worth another trip soon!

[Lori Libka]

Dominique,

Thanks for your post and photos from Bronner's. I hope you enjoy your tree topper for many years to come!

Merry Christmas,
Lori Libka
communications assistant
Bronner's

[Sarah V.]

Wow! Over 7 acres? That's just incredible. Great pictures!

[Andrew]

The best time to go to Bronner's is in the offseason during the week. I've been numerous times in November and it is crazy busy! It was much more fun on a weekday in March. My son and I could stroll through at our leisure without wading through the crowds.

If you have never been and you're a Michigan resident - you have to go at least once. The sheer size of the store is worth the trip. Plus there are those tasty chicken dinners in town :)

[TheWordWire]

Five football fields worth of Christmas decorations? I bet there's not that much decor at the North Pole! Thanks for sharing.

[Brandon]

Haven't visited in awhile -- like the new look!

I love Bronner's -- it's been really interesting taking visitors there. No one "likes" Bronner's -- they either LOVE it or HATE it as it's overwhelming. I've always found that it's a great place to buy special, keep-sake type ornaments for the family. It's a little over the top on pushing the Christianity -- but hey, it is a Christmas store! I think it's definitely a highlight in our state.

[Laura Martone]

Hi, Dominique. I would've emailed you instead of posting a comment, but I can't find an email address. Perhaps I'm missing it.

Anyway, I commented earlier on your site, but I'm assuming the comment was removed because I mentioned my travel blog. Forgive the faux pas - I was genuinely tickled to find that you were talking about Bronner's and Frankenmuth - both of which I covered in my MOON MICHIGAN guidebook and both of which I plan to highlight tomorrow on my own blog. I just happened to visit your site for the first time today - after discovering you through The Word Wire blog - and I couldn't believe that, of all the things you could've highlighted, you were talking about Bronner's. It seemed serendipitous.

P.S. Your photos are wonderful - they really make the stupendous place come to life. Cheers!

[Dominique King]

Cindy-I was trying to come up with some seasonal posts and remembered I had these photos! I'm thinking I should get back up there again one of these days myself.

Lori-Thanks for stopping by! I've got so many good memories of visiting Bronner's over the years, and a good number of the ornaments I put on my tree (and other holiday decorations I use) came from Bronner's. The tree topper was particularly memorable for me because it was one of the first decorations I bought specifically for my new home after I first moved into it years ago.

Sarah-It's big all right. You have to see the place to believe it...and allow plenty of time to see it all!

Andrew-I'm with you...my favorite time to visit is during the spring or summer. Nothing like Christmas in July...and you can enjoy that at Bronner's :)

[Dominique King]

WordWire-That's probably why Santa spends so much time hanging around Bronner's :lol:

Brandon-The "new" look came about when I switched to Flickr as my major photo sharing service (the sizes were a little different, so I had to go with a different design if I wanted to maintain a decent photo size).
Yup, Bronner's is definitely a Michigan must-see!

Laura-you can find an email for me on my "About" page. I never saw your previous comment...is it possible you forgot to type in the catchpa the first time around? (I had to keep the catchpa here because too much sp*m got through without it). The link to your blog is right in your sig now :)
I'll look forward to seeing your take on Bronner's. I thought it was time to get into the holiday spirit, and Bronner's seemed like a good topic for that!