Bronner's Christmas Wonderland (stylized Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland) is a retail store in

Frankenmuth, Michigan Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,944 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by Frankenmuth Township. Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which bills itself as "the World's Largest Chris ...

, that promotes itself as the "World's Largest

Christmas Store A Christmas store is a retail store specializing in Christmas supplies, especially decorations. Many Christmas stores operate only seasonally in the month or two before the Christmas holidays, perhaps set up in otherwise vacant shopping mall spac ...

". Designed with an

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

(see

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

), the building is in size with landscaped grounds covering . Outside the entrance are three outdoor

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

s and a

snowman A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture of a man often built in regions with sufficient snowfall and is a common winter tradition. In many places, typical snowmen consist of three large snowballs of different sizes with some additional ...

. Inside the store, there are approximately 800 animated

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with clay ...

s. Some 100,000 lights illuminate Bronner's Christmas Lane. Michigan designated Bronner's as an "Embassy for Michigan Tourism" in 1976. Bronner's employs over 500 people during the holiday season (between October and Christmas). Founded in 1945 by Wally Bronner, Bronner's Christmas Wonderland is visited annually by over two million people, with the weekend after

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

being the busiest of the year with over 50,000 visitors. Its inventory exceeds 50,000 items, including

Christmas ornament Christmas ornaments, baubles, "Christmas bulbs" or "Christmas bubbles" are wiktionary:decoration, decoration items, usually to decorate Christmas trees. These decorations may be Weaving, woven, Glassblowing, blown (Glassblowing, glass or Blow ...

s, artificial Christmas trees,

Christmas lights Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom g ...

Nativity scene In the Christian tradition, a nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche ( or ), or in Italian ''presepio'' or ''presepe'', or Bethlehem) is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmas season, of art objects rep ...

s, Christmas decorations, collectibles, and similar goods. Each year, approximately 600,000 glass ornaments, of

garland A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance. Etymology From the ...

, 150,000

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s and 86,000 light sets (nearly of light cords) are sold. Bronner's has the exclusive right to sell Precious Moments Christmas-themed figurines. With the government of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

's permission and in keeping with the German theme of Frankenmuth itself, Bronner's built a replica of the Oberndorf, Austria, ''Silent Night Memorial Chapel'' in 1992 as a tribute to the Christmas hymn "

Silent Night "Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an ...

". Wally Bronner, 81, died on April 1st, 2008. Bronner's was vandalized on Christmas Day in 2010, with some 75 store displays damaged or destroyed. Five men pleaded guilty to the crime, which involved an estimated $40,000 in damage. In 2018, there were over 350 decorated Christmas trees inside and products from 70 countries in the 320,000 square foot building. Irene Bronner died on October 16, 2022, at the age of 95.

References

External links

Bronner's website

{{coord, 43, 18, 50, N, 83, 44, 13, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Michigan Buildings and structures in Saginaw County, Michigan Tourist attractions in Saginaw County, Michigan Christmas in the United States Christmas economics Companies based in Michigan Retail companies established in 1945 1945 establishments in Michigan Christmas organizations