Dakota Square Mall — Local services in Minot

We went to see the mall Santa. Santa himself was fantastic. The photographer should never have been hired with her poor attitude and work ethic. She showed up over an hour late and when we talked about it with Santa, he gave permission to allow the kids to visit with him even without photos because for him it's about the joy of the children (what it SHOULD be about). As soon as we got our turn, the photographer suddenly showed up and scolded my husband for having a cell phone out. Those were the first words out of her mouth, no apology for being late, no friendly greeting. Just immediate scolding as soon as she arrived even though SHE was the one who was absurdly late. She soured the mood so much so quickly that my daughter started crying (she's very sensitive to the mood of the room). Someone like that should not be allowed to work with children, especially at Christmas time. If she had shown up with a better attitude we would've paid for pictures, but the mall lost our money today. I hope a more professional photographer will be hired next year, or better yet, tomorrow. Again, I'd like to emphasize that Santa was FANTASTIC, but even he wasn't spared from her scolding. That's right, she scolded the big man himself for bringing joy to children while he waited over an hour for her to show up. And as far as I could tell from talking to him, she didn't even give him a heads up on what time she would be there. Normally I don't leave reviews like this, but this behavior was so disgusting to me I couldn't leave without saying something and I had no luck trying to get ahold of a mall manager. I wish Santa a Merry Christmas and I hope that photographer learns to let a little Christmas spirit...

To celebrate my son's birthday, our whole family went to the AMC theaters to watch a superhero movie together.

The things I appreciated included: Stadium seating, 3D glasses came in a sealed pouch, refillable drinks, custom drink flavors, plastic popcorn bucket that gets you a major discount on future trips, ability to order tickets in advance and literally skip the box office line (there's almost always a line at the box office here, at least during "prime" times), a good variety of both sweet & salty snacks at the concessions counter, several flavors of slurpees.

Now, I wish that the cinema had a big poster or backdrop of our super hero movie so we could have commemorated the special occasion with a selfie. I also look forward to the time they choose to install the "luxury loungers" just like those at Cinemark.

Overall, I'm glad to be living in a town big enough to have a...

Atmosphere of the mall just isn't what it used to be. I miss the clock, and the diversity of stores feels weak at best. And rhe huge lack of people I see now. I feel like it's a giant womans clothing store because so many are just that. If you aren't a skateboarder going into zumies or a rich white kid buying buckle there really doesn't feel like much of a men's selection anymore. Mall needs a guess or a express or something more modern. Fargo has had them for years. This place and the surrounding towns are 15 years behind the time. The mall can't survive on buckles 300 dollar jeans alone. And even the sephora in j penny has very poor attempt at stocking current product. That used to be the go to store for cologne and aftershave and such. Just very minimal product lines. Sorry minot mall but get...