Wallace Bronner got an early start learning to satisfy customers while clerking
in his Aunt Hattie Hubinger's grocery store at age 12. In 1943, Wallace (better
known as Wally), the 16-year-old son of Herman and Ella Bronner, started as
an "after school hours" sign painter in the basement of his parents' home. The
family, including brother Arnold and sister Helen, provided encouragement and
assistance to young Wally.
Wally refers to 1945, his high school graduation year, as the official starting
year for his business career.
In 1951, while designing window displays for the Jennison Hardware Company
in Bay City, Michigan, Wally met several merchants from Clare, Michigan, who
were searching for Christmas decorations for their city lampposts.
To meet their needs, Wally, along with the assistance of his first full-time
staff member Eddie Beyerlein, designed and produced Christmas panels. That
marked the beginning of selling Christmas decorations to communities, shopping
centers and stores.
During 1954, Wally and his wife, Irene, ventured to construct their first
permanent building located in the middle of Frankenmuth. The site was on
property owned by his maternal ancestors, the Hubingers, who settled in
Frankenmuth in the spring of 1846 after Frankenmuth's founding in 1845. Wally's
father, a skilled stone mason and the contractor for the original building, did
much of the construction work personally.
The store featured decorations for cities and shopping centers as well as
gifts and trims for the home in religious, traditional, and toyland themes. In
1963, an expansion was added to the original building.
Business continued to mushroom. Wally and Irene
purchased the Frankenmuth Bank Building in 1966 and converted it into a store
featuring a wide variety of glass ornaments, lights, artificial Christmas trees,
garlands, and wreaths. The new building was named Bronner's Tannenbaum Shop. In
1971, the Bronners purchased the former Hubinger Grocery store and converted it
into a third store named Bronner's Bavarian Corner.
In the early 70's, Bronner's three stores became so crowded that it was
necessary to hire doormen on fall weekends to control the lines of people
waiting to enter. The intersection by the stores became congested with motorists
and pedestrians. It became increasingly obvious that consolidation under one
roof was inevitable.
In 1977 the growing business was consolidated into one location on a 45-acre
tract of land on the south side of Frankenmuth. The new address was
appropriately designated as 25 Christmas Lane.
The early sign-painting business grew into a separate entity called Bronner
Screen Printing. In the early 1980's, membrane switches developed as a major
product and Memtron Technologies became a division of Bronner Screen Printing.
It was sold in 1984 to long-time manager Don Fischer and his wife, Karen.
A building addition in 1991 nearly doubled the size of Bronner's store. In
2000 an expansion was added to the shipping department. In 2001 construction
began on another major expansion that opened in May 2002, bringing the
total building size to 5.5 football fields. The south entrance/checkout area was
remodeled and expanded in the winter of 2003 to better serve guests and
staff.
On April 1, 2008, Wally went to heaven following a brief illness. Irene, son Wayne and wife Lorene, daughter Carla and her husband Bob Spletzer, and daughter Maria and her husband Christopher Sutorik continue to manage the family business. The Bronner family expresses heartfelt thanks to their cherished customers and loyal staff.
