Bronner's is genuinely the largest Christmas store in the world — over 7 acres under one roof, with 50,000-plus separate items for sale, an entire warehouse-sized hall devoted to artificial trees, and a soundtrack that plays carols continuously, 364 days a year. (It closes on Christmas Day.)
It is staggering, slightly disorienting, and unapologetically a sales operation. The crowds peak in October and November when bus tours run from across the Midwest. Free parking, free entry, and a small chapel called the Silent Night Memorial Chapel on the grounds — a replica of the chapel at Oberndorf, Austria, where the carol was first performed in 1818.