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At age 12, Wally
got an early start
on building his
customer service
skills by working as
a clerk in his Aunt
Hattie Hubinger's
grocery store.
At age 18, Wally
starts sign painting
business in his
parent's basement.
While designing
window displays
for Jennison's
Hardware in Bay
City, Wally meets
merchants from
Clare, MI looking
for Christmas
decorations for
city lampposts. He
creates Christmas
panels that mark
the start of his
career in Christmas
decorations.
Wally and his
wife, Irene,
construct their first
permanent building
in the middle of
Frankenmuth.
Bronner's
experienced many
expansions over
these years: First,
adding on to the
original building;
then purchasing
the old bank in
1966 (Bronner's
Tannenbaum
Shop). Then in
1971 adding the
Hattie Hubinger
grocery location
(Bronner's
Bavarian Corner).
BRONNER'S THROUGH TIME
Chicken
Christmas
&
FROM WORLD FAMOUS
CHICKEN TO WORLD'S
LARGEST CHRISTMAS STORE
By 1965, brothers Eddie and Tiny Zehnder had created a family
dining experience like no other, partnering with other passionate, local
entrepreneurs such as Wally Bronner (originator of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)
to become the driving forces behind the transformation of the small, agricultural town
of Frankenmuth into what we all know and love today as Michigan's Little Bavaria.
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FRANKENMUTH.ORG
