Our visit to Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland was one of the highlights of our trip. Bronner's claims to be the world's largest Christmas store with over 6,000 different ornaments, 350 decorated Christmas trees and one and a half football fields of Christmas merchandise. I had been to Bronner's more than a decade ago and thought that Lori might like it, so we decided to go. The store had changed a bit since I was there last, but it still is an experience that I recommend to anyone.
In addition to the many ornaments, visitors will find Department 56 villages, Hummel figurines, Precious Moments, Pipka & Possible Dreams Santas, Kurt S. Adler, Fontanini nativities and many other high quality Christmas items. In fact, I did not notice a single "cheap" item. Everything Bronner's carries is of the highest quality. No dollar store imitations.
In their auditorium, Bronner's has several display cases with nativities from various parts of the world. It was interesting to see how the Christian culture varies with the cultures of the world. For instance, in America, Jesus is primarily depicted as a Caucasian, but in the Italian nativity, the holy family were more accurately represented as Middle Eastern. In Kenya, the nativity showed Jesus and the holy family wearing tribal masks.
I was disappointed that the store did not carry the one item I was looking for. Pipka Santas are a very nice resin collectible. They come in three sizes and for space and price purposes, I like the miniature Pipka Santas the best. Bronner's carried the two larger sizes of Pipka, but not the miniatures. They did not offer to try to get them, so I guess it is not something they could special order.
The vast majority of their merchandise is dedicated to ornaments. They carry every possible style of ornament that one could ever want. Many of them can be personalized. Bronner's sells so many ornaments that they work with the manufacturers on creating ornaments exclusively from Bronners. Ornaments are not the only exclusive. Department 56 has created a replica of the original Bronners store for its Snow Village series. The piece is sold exclusively at Bronners.
If you ever get the chance to visit Michigan, Bronners is a must see. You won't be disappointed.
14 years ago
2 comments:
I have always wanted to take my mom there. My mom is CRAZY about Christmas. She has over 600 non-duplicative Santas that she puts out during Chrsitmas, and those do not include any Santa ornaments. Being at her house at Christmas is my most favorite thing, because even in the bathrooms there is Christmas everywhere! Perhaps some day we'll get there.
James, thanks for visiting Bronner's. We appreciate your friendship and your recommending us to family and friends. I'll forward your request for miniature Pipka Santas to our buyers for their consideration. Have a safe and happy summer.
Lori
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