The Dayton's Project — Local services in Minneapolis

My sister saw a news article saying that Santa Bears were coming back and she wanted to keep her collection going. I looked at the website and it looked great,, places to eat, still connected to the skyway it was perfect however.....

I went in on November 27th, a Sunday the Skyway was not open and after crossing the street outside and went in search of food and shops there was no place open to eat, asked a security guard and they said both the skyway and places to eat were closed because it was Sunday.

The guards claimed it was Sunday and the food shops didn't want to work, during the Christmas Season there is an increased foot traffic and they need to hire staff so the hungry shoppers can eat, it's a great building and concept but with only 1 shop open and noplace to eat on Sunday's I really don't see it working long term.

As for shops there was only one, No Santa Bears on display except for 1 and that was only for display purposes.

The news stories said there were a limited supply and to pay attention to the Dayton's Project social media pages for updates which I looked at before going downtown and all I could find were links to all the various news articles with no information about cost or news they were sold out.

What none of the news stories mentioned is the Bears were not only not in the store, they aren't even in the Country, they are awaiting Import and can't give a date when they will even arrive. They are pre selling them.

I paid and they took down my name and number, I presumed they wanted my number so I could be contacted to come get it but I was then told that the receipt had a website on it that I have to continue to check so I can go get it, really curious why they wanted a phone number they are not going to even call.

One final note about this "Santa Bear" the physical size is considerably smaller, I would say it could only be 1/3 to 1/2 the original size which is kind of pathetic but for someone that has collected them all...

I think many other reviewers don't realize that the building was recently renovated with the main intention of it being a luxury office building. There is no intention of re-creating the Dayton's department store of decades past that many remember.

The majority of the building isn't accessible to the public because they are private office suites. As someone who does office within the building, I can attest that it is a beautiful space with wonderful amenities.

There is some retail on the street level and skyway level open to the public. The seasonal market has a lovely rotating selection of local makers. Its worth checking out and a nice place to find a variety of products from local...

Speaking solely to the Christmas stuff, it was not Christmas-y at all. Yes, the shops sold Christmas themed things but there were barely any decorations. Do not bring your kids because there's nothing to do and nothing to eat. Everything else downtown is closed on the weekend and parking is stupid expensive/none. There's also nothing to look at. It is purely for shopping local which it is great for. Very cute spot if you want to shop local vendors but I would say the way that the shops work could be better. It's unclear how to check out. It's just open to shop between the vendors with one checkout spot. Do not recommend as a "Christmas market." Would recommend as a...