The St. Cloud Mall Trick or Treat Event is a warm indoor place to visit on a cold Halloween night. But is it worth your time to go?
Address: 4101 W Division St, St Cloud, MN 56301
Hours: October 31 – 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – subject to change
Website: https://www.crossroadscenter.com
Cost: FREE!
When it comes to trick or treating in Minnesota we are all very familiar with buying costumes two sizes bigger than needed just so it fits over your winter coat. Or if you have lived here a few years you learn the art of layering.
However some years layering is hopeless and your Halloween costume becomes a giant winter coat.
It is during these years you have to decide if it’s even worth going out into the chilly weather to Trick or Treat.
One indoor option that is offered is the St. Cloud Mall Trick or Treat Event. The mall is officially named Crossroads Center, however if you’re new to town, you’ll just call it the St. Cloud Mall.
In the few years we’ve lived here we’ve seen the advertisements for the St. Cloud Mall Trick or Treat Event.
However, we’d never gone until this year.
Instead we’ve always opted to Trick or Treat around the neighborhoods or attend other events.
Last year however, we decided to hit the St. Cloud Mall Trick or Treat Event. We wanted to see what all the hype was and if it was really worth our time.
In telling a friend of our plans she gave me a funny look when I mentioned the St. Cloud Mall Trick or Treat Event.
Confused at her reaction I pressed for more info. She informed me that she had been a few years ago and that there were very few stores that participated.
Overall she concluded that the St. Cloud Mall Trick or Treat Event wasn’t a very happening spot. Well that was several years ago, and generally with most events, they improve every year.
And so we opted to still go and check out what the hype was all about.
We started our night off at the Grandparents home. We wanted to show off costumes and trick or treat a few houses in their neighborhood. The kids got so much stuff from the few homes we did visit that we had to empty their baskets out in the car.
We then took off to the mall at 6:00 so that we could have plenty of time at their event.
A quick look at the malls website states that there are 83 stores in the mall, not counting the food court.
Giving our kids a maximum possibility of 83 Trick or Treating Stations (not including the fast food court).
Sadly though, only 20 were offered in the entire mall.
Several of which you had to go into the back of the store to even get your candy.
I understand the concept of getting customers to go INTO your store. However as parents, that’s just annoying. Strollers do not fit comfortably down some of the store isles and it just adds to the amount of overall walking required.
Remember, little legs cannot go as fast or as far before wearing out. So be a gem and stand at your door entrance and pass out your candy there. This also prevents long lines as well. Kids can then flow from store to store instead of line to line.
Out of those 20, we came home with 12 suckers, 2 stickers, 3 tootsie rolls and a 3 pieces of candy – only 1 being chocolate and a bouncy ball.
Clearly in the last several years the mall has put absolutely zero effort into actually hosting a Halloween event.
This has us really puzzled.
My husband and I had a lengthy discussion on why the Mall would not put more effort into a community event like Trick or Treating when the rewards could be so great for everyone.
SO here is a list of our thoughts and we’d certainly love to hear yours!
- As a mall, and a business, why not entice each business to pass out candy? Let’s say, give each business who participates a $50 discount on their next months rent. That should cover the cost of candy.
- By having more stores participate, this event will go from blah to “hey this was pretty good” and hopefully one year being THE PLACE TO BE for Halloween.
- Drawing in more people and bigger crowds means more sales overall for the Mall.
- Snacks and dinner for the kids in the food courts, shopping and overall getting those customers who never go to the mall to shop IN THE MALL to see what they are missing out on. My husband who NEVER goes to the mall was surprised by a few of the stores that are now there, in which he otherwise would never have known about if it weren’t for Trick or Treating.
- Encourage or allow business to offer coupons or special deals for Halloween only – enticing customers to shop while there. 10% off your purchase today or a buy one get one 50% off coupon to entice the customer to come back another day.
- Why not open up one of the empty stores and turn it into a dance party for after trick or treating. One town we lived in several years ago did something like that and the kids LOOOVED it!
Trick or Treating at the mall could be a HUGE crowd drawing event for the mall. And yet, it appears that they do the bare minimum to even call themselves an event.
The event lasts for 2 hours and there were quite a few families that did come out. Many of which did shop, grab dinner or a snack and even stay and play in the kids play zone.
However, overall it would seem everyone was equally surprised by the lack of effort the Mall put into the event. We heard a few say it would have been more fun (and 10x more treats) to go to a neighborhood than the Mall.
Even with that said, many families still enjoyed it and it is great for little ones who do not do well walking from home to home.
Do we regret going? Nope. The kids still had fun and my son LOVED skipping along the mall from station to station.
Will we go again? I don’t think so.. Not unless there are some big changes to the event.