Postcards of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

"Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." — Lucy Van Pelt

"What's this? 'Find the true meaning of Christmas? Win money money money? Spectacular, super-colossal neighborhood lights and display contest?' Lights and display contest? Oh, no! My own dog gone commercial, I can't stand it!" — Charlie Brown

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)

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These two modern postcards, one of which I mailed this morning to a pen pal in the Netherlands, promote Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, a seven-acre superstore in Frankenmuth, Michigan, that was founded in 1945.

Its website notes: "Bronner's features a fantastic selection of Christmas ornaments, trims, trees, Christmas lights, nativities and collectibles. Christmas cards, garlands, stockings, Advent calendars and wreaths are also among the many items available. Of the more than 6,000 styles of ornaments which Bronner's carries, half of the glass ornaments are Bronner's exclusive designs." 

And its blog is awash in corporate brand names:

• "Decorate for Christmas with candy! No doubt, several favorites come to mind, including Dum-Dums®, M&M’S®, Pez®, Skittles®, Life Savers®, Starburst® and Hot Tamales®. And what about Milky Way®, Tootsie Roll® Pop, Twix®, Snickers® and gummy bears?"
• "Craft yourself an enchanted little Christmas with our Disney®-inspired, Enchanting Rose Cloche DIY Home Accent!"
• "Detroit Lions Top Nifty New Ornaments for 2024 Topping many Michigander’s list this Christmas, no doubt, will be this Detroit Lions glass football ornament."

In a November 21, 2024, article about Bronner's for National Review, John J. Miller writes: "Shoppers come not only to buy but also to enjoy a spectacle. Outside the store, there’s a life-sized Nativity scene, three 17-foot-tall Santa statues, and the octagonal Silent Night Chapel, a replica of the Austrian original where the hymn 'Silent Night' was written and first performed two centuries ago. Inside the store, lights flash and twinkle everywhere. Electrical bills used to top $1,200 per day, but they fell to $650 per day after the store replaced its incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Bronner’s estimates that in a typical year, it sells strings of Christmas lights whose combined length would stretch to nearly 500 miles."

Billboards for Bronner's can be found as far away as Florida. (That reminds me of Wall Drug's highway advertising strategy.)

Bronner's may be the biggest store, but it's hardly the only one of its kind. Most Americans have a Christmas superstore fairly close by. There are notable stores in Hiawassee, Georgia; Middleburg, Virginia; San Diego, California; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Santa Claus, Indiana; Mobile, Alabama; Arlington, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and New Oxford, Pennsylvania, among many other locations.

Of course, the Yuletide bric-a-brac competition is fierce, so not all Christmas stores survive. I wrote about Christmas Tree Shops in 2015 and it went out of business in 2023. 

"How I love the sound of clinking money! That beautiful sound of cold hard cash! Nickels, nickels, nickels! That beautiful sound of clinking nickels!" — Lucy Van Pelt