FRANKENMUTH, Mich. — It's an annual tradition for many folks around Michigan, and even the nation, to visit Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland around the holidays.
It's on the other side of the state, but it's a beloved name in West Michigan too.
Bronner's calls itself "the largest Christmas store in the world".
The store itself wasn't always the size of one-and-a-half football fields though. Around 78 years ago, its founder, Wally Bronner, opened a business that actually had nothing to do with Christmas.
"He never in his wildest dreams would have thought that it would one day become the World’s Largest Christmas store from a small sign painting business," said Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland Vice President Carla Bronner-Spletzer.
One of Wally's daughters saying it started as a sign painting business in 1945.
"My dad was very artistic, and so he would do signs for people, window displays, that type of thing," said Bronner-Spletzer.
Wally was doing a window display in a hardware store when some officials from Clare, Michigan asked about decor for their street lamp posts.
While it wasn't his specialty, he agreed to do it.
"More cities wanted some the following years, and as the groups for the cities would get together to discuss what they wanted for their decorations, many of their wives would come along and say ‘Well don’t you have some Christmas decorations for homes?’," said Bronner-Spletzer.
It grew from there, and Bronner's eventually opened a second and third storefront, before moving to the location everyone knows today.
"When we moved to this location in 1977, it was much smaller. We have added two major expansions since then, but when we moved here in 1977 and consolidated all three stores here, we thought ‘How are we ever going to fill up this place?’ It didn’t take long, and we outgrew that too," said Bronner-Spletzer.
On average, two million people visit Bronner's every single year, whether it's to purchase one of the 400,000 ornaments annually personalized, get assistance from one of the over 700 staff members or to buy one of the more two million ornaments sold each year.
"So many people come here with friends or families meet here, and it is a tradition to not only come to Bronner’s but to the town of Frankenmuth. There is so much here for them to do. They can make wonderful memories and celebrate the joy of Christmas here," said Bronner-Spletzer.
The joy of Christmas is kept alive through Wally's wish which is to always celebrate the true meaning of the holiday.
"That’s what Christmas is all about, the birth of Christ. That is always the main thing to be celebrated that gift that he gave us of Christ’s birth and eventually eternal life," said Bronner-Spletzer.
Today, Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland is still owned and managed by six Bronner family members.
It is open 361 days a year, only closing on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
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