FRANKENLUST TWP, MI — It’s that time of year when the green is replaced by the blaze of blue and red and yellow lights at Begick Nursery & Garden Center.
For neighbors and motorists driving by, the multicolored redecoration process at the Bay County business is a surefire sign the holidays are here. That’s when staff at the nursery and landscaping business transform the property into a wall-to-wall-to-ceiling display of Christmas decorations, its interior a maze full of tens of thousands of items for sale.
Raymond Schwall, general manager at the Frankenlust Township-based business, is no stranger to this metamorphosis. For years, he’s helped lead the store’s 15 staff members as they remove the trappings of warm-weather commerce and replace it all with the lure of Christmas.
There are a lot of Christmas trees inside Begick Nursery & Garden Center. A lot.
Tons.
And each tree plays host to hundreds of ornaments and lights. Hundreds.
And all of those trees and all of those ornaments and all of those lights greet customers the moment they step through the front door of the business.
The sight can deliver a feeling of sensory overload for eyes virgin to the sheer volume of this Christmastime visage. It can stop a person in their tracks — their first time glancing into the maze of holiday décor — to question what they are looking at. Is it an optical illusion? Is there a way in? Once inside, is there a way out?
Plenty of patrons can attest to leaving the business, sometimes with a truck-load of purchases. Schwall said, each year, the store sells every Christmas item it offers.
The transformation from garden center to Christmas wonderland each winter began about 60 years ago, he said.
“When you’re in the nursery, garden center business, there’s not much happening in December, so this was a niche for us that started out as selling fresh-cut trees and lights,” Schwall said, “and it’s evolved since then.”
Now there are hanging ornaments, mistletoes, garlands, tree toppers, candles, wreaths and figurines of just about every character associated with the holiday, including pretty much every variation of Santa Claus and the Mrs.
Most of the decorations are hanging from plastic Christmas trees, with a series of the trees displaying a different theme or color of decoration. One corner of the store, for example, is decked with decorations shaded largely with a snowy-white hue. A “jungle”-themed lineup of trees presents ornaments painted to resemble the coats of creatures one might encounter in the Congo. A Coca-Cola-themed tree features pint-sized pop bottle decorations.
The project to transform the interior for Christmas actually begins in January, he said. That’s when staff begin ordering and collecting the next holiday season’s items and start diagramming how they will organize the ornaments later in the year.
In June, staff begin marking price tags. Around Labor Day, the redecorating starts, when workers dangle decorations where potted plants hung during the summer.
The Christmastime-related sales reach a zenith the weekend after Thanksgiving, he said.
“You have a lot of family in town then, and it has really become a tradition for them to come (to Begick) that weekend,” Schwall said.
Items range in price, from about $3 to $1,000, he said.
“A couple years ago, a couple came in with their children, and they thought, ‘We just want something new for Christmas,’” he said.
That effort resulted in the family purchasing every ornament hanging from two of the trees.
“They definitely got something new for Christmas,” Schwall said.
Begick Nursey & Garden Center is located at 5993 Westside Saginaw Road in Frankenlust Township, less than 5 miles southwest of Bay City. Find Begick on Facebook or Instagram for more information.
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