For 361 days a year, you can experience the magic of Christmas at Bronner’s Christmas Store in Frankenmuth, Michigan — the World’s Largest Christmas Store. The store takes over 7.3 acres and 27 acres of land in total. Bronner’s is home to over 350 decorated trees, 150 styles of nutcrackers, and decor from over 70 nations. All together, there are more than 50,000 decorations at Bronner’s! Just outside, a 17-foot-tall Santa and 15-foot-tall Snowman stand happily among the 100,000 lights that illuminate the grounds.
The History of Bronner’s Christmas Store
The Christmas Store’s history begins with Wally Bronner who started his retail and business career at the young age of twelve. In the 1950’s Wally began decorating widow displays for Jennison’s Hardware. During his display designing, he met some merchants looking for Christmas decorations for nearby city lampposts. Wally created a custom line of panels for them, solidifying his future in Christmas decorations.
Wally and his wife decided to build their dream Christmas shop in Frankenmuth. Herman, Wally’s father, built most of the original structure that turned into three connected stores. Bronner’s ended up moving south to their current location to accommodate their growing collection. The town aptly named the street “Christmas Lane.” Major expansions continued the monstrous growth of Bronner’s over the years. The total building size is 5.5 football fields!
The Addition of The Silent Night Chapel
In 1992, a special expansion was brought to Bronner’s. Since his visit to Stille Nacht Kapelle in Obendorf, Austria in 1976, Wally has wanted to bring its holiness to life back at home. Bronner’s was authorized to build a replica of the Silent Night Chapel, dedicated to Wally’s thankfulness to God. The Chapel is open daily during the store’s usual business hours. The song “Silent Night” was first performed at Stille Nacht Kapelle on December 24, 1818. The lyrics of the song can be found in all different languages around the Bronner’s property, and the song is always playing on the speakers overhead.
Bronner’s is famous for their hand painted ornaments, of which 100,000 are personalized each year. Nearly 50% of the designed ornaments sold are Bronner’s own designs. Select ornaments can have names hand-penned onto them during normal store hours. At the paint-and-go counter, guests can have custom made ornaments embellished with names and years during select hours. You can even have an ornament shipped home to you.
The store is open from the morning hours to late in the evening, but hours depend on the time of year. It’s best to refer to the hours on their website for the most up-to-date information. Over 2 million guests visit Bronner’s annually, the weekend after Thanksgiving being the busiest. You can check out their online store that sells 3,000 Christmas items, or make the trip to Michigan to walk through this Winter Wonderland yourself.