Frankenmuth Shopping

My niece has a dollhouse that she is furnishing so we spent a lot of time in Rau's Country Store, the entire basement is filled with dollhouses that you can make, ones already put together and any piece of furnishing you could imagine to go inside. My husband was very excited to see all of the things that they had in minature, he's already working on those Peeps projects for next year in his mind!

Upstairs they also have gift items and a selection of old fashioned candy, I couldn't resist stocking up on some salt water taffy. It was much cheaper here than down the street at the other candy stores, $4.49 a lb. here and over $7 a lb. down the street.

The Birch Run Outlets are ok, if you are looking for something name brand. The prices are not any lower that dept stores for the same items. On the plus side, it is convienent to have so many different venders in a central location. There are much better and more unique stores right in the village of Frankenmuth.

What to pay: Average Dept store prices

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River Place is a small shopping plaza that at first I thought would host the usual shops from any suburban mall between Frankenmuth and Timbuktu, but the shops turned out to be more localish or at least possessing an individualistic stripe. There is one or possibly two Bennigan's style restaurants I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Sadly enough, they paid little more than lip service to the Bavarian theme of Frankenmuth, going for cheap before beautiful like any greedy property developer that long since sold their soul at the altar of infamy.

What to buy: I tried to take my 2.8 year old daughter into the mirror maze, an act which I regret because it terrified her. They sell a variety of sports, fashion, collectible and other goods.

What to pay: Average

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We didn't think to bring a cooler with us and didn't think that cheese or sausage would survive the long drive home. We did enjoy going inside two of the stores as we wandered down Main Street, the Frankenmuth Cheesehaus at 561 S. Main Street and Willi's Sausages at 316 S. Main Street, both of which had plenty of items to sample.

The first thing you do when you walk into Bronner's is to remember where you parked, West or South. Then you pick up a map from the entrance so you don't get lost. Then you arrange a meeting time and place for your party or else you may never find them again, cell phones also come in handy. Grab a basket and off you go into the Winter Wonderland.

For those poor men who have been dragged along, they had a big screen TV where they could watch football. They even have a place to get something to eat in case you need a little more energy to finish your shopping.

What to buy: If you can imagine a Christmas decoration, they probably have it here. Ornaments are organized by category (birds, cats, dogs, angels, etc.) and by country and by color. There's a whole section for personalized items. There are lights and garland and trees and stockings. There's an entire room full of Department 56 buildings and accessories to make a Christmas village, shelves and shelves of nativity scenes, blowup ornaments for your lawn.

What to pay: Roughly the same as you'd pay anywhere else, just the selection is vast.