I'm originally from South Carolina and have been living in St cloud for a few years but I have some questions about this place that I hope someone can answer.
-
Why doesn't the airport offer more flights? MSP is a hassle and would rather not pay an arm and a leg for parking. I feel like if STC offered flights to hubs like Chicago or Atlanta more people would fly there just to get to where they need.
-
Why aren't there more 24 hour dinning options? I feel like something similar to a waffle house would kill it up here considering all the college kids.
-
Do any concerts or anything ever come here? It feels like it's close enough to Minneapolis/St.Paul ( I'm never calling them "the cities") that it could just having something here. The hockey arena seats 5,000 and the Rivers edge convention center is there as well.
I see a lot of potential for st.cloud, just curious to what's stopping it
Sort by:
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
That’s just the way it is.
There used to be. The pandemic pretty much killed 24-hour food. Plus when it did exist it was Perkins.
The Ledge Amphitheater has major acts. You’re not going to see Top 40 acts because there isn’t sufficient seating. https://tickets-center.com/search/v/The-Ledge-Amphitheater/27449?venueId=27449&venueName=The+Ledge+Amphitheater
The pandemic didn't kill it, it was dead after like 2015 2016 as companies started to look for ways to save money, and staffing a fast food joint at 3am was an easy cut to make. This, I don't imagine, will be coming back ever.
That being said, there is always Gilbertos currently, which is an aces late night choice.
This. Notice how many places used to proudly advertise 24hr but dropped it, food, retail, or otherwise.
You were often looking at 1 sleep deprived employee fielding unaccompanied minors and the inebriated while expected to do all the restocking or whatnot during those slow hours. That might be a norm best left gone.
I worked 1 overnight shift once at the McDonalds down by the Walmart, and I vaguely remember my experience being relatively chill. the 2am rush wasn't awful, though I had like, 2 other people staffed with me.
The only annoying bit was at the end of the shift when the morning people came in, the Morning Shift Lead thought I was one of his workers and I ended up working an extra two hours cause he kept giving me stuff to do, before he realized how long I'd been working.
To add on to number 3: many tour promoters have a Radius Clause in their contracts that say their performer will not perform within a certain distance from a venue, in order to draw people from further away to that location.
If STC joined the MAC more flights would be available. I think the city council talks about it every few years but that's as far as it goes.
This ^
United tried flights out of STC a few years ago (connecting through Chicago) but the flights were constantly delayed due to air traffic conflicts in Chicago.
Staffing any restaurant in this market is nearly impossible, much less finding staff to cover such late hours.
Hopefully “The Ledge” takes off… if you build it, they will come.
The year United started flight to Chicago happened to be the year of the fire in a Chicago act tower. This was part of the reason flights from STC to Chicago were spotty, and hence unpopular. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Chicago_Air_Route_Traffic_Control_Center_fire
What's wrong with calling it "The Cities"?
Nothing, OP just wants a semantic high horse. 😃
I can tell he’s not a OG Minnesotan.
I'm not either but saying "The cities" is so much faster 😆
Usually when I hear people say that they're only going to Minneapolis. What's the point of even mentioning St.Paul? Lol it's not that big of a deal to me it's something that irks me
I’ve been calling the whole metro area “The Cities” since I was a kid. My grandparents call it that too.
St. Paul has the Excel energy center. If you’re getting technical then a lot of people going to the “cities” aren’t even going to Minneapolis either as it’s quite small compared to what is referenced as Minneapolis.
The airport used to connect to Chicago and it was awesome. Saved me a ton of headaches for business. Even the flights to MSP were great as I could save on parking and the security is way easier to deal with here.
I'm glad they are getting more regular service to Arizona and Florida, but I would love for them to bring ORD or MSP back, even twice a week.
I wish they did another airport in Florida or one in Texas
St. Cloud is close enough to MSP where they don't get government subsidies to fly multiple daily flights like Brainerd and Alexandria do. They tried to make it go the Capitalist way with daily flights to Chicago, but that failed. Take Groomed to MSP if you don't want to drive and park.
Perkins and McMillans were 24 hour restaurants that did well back when SCSU had twice the enrollment. They closed a few locations and scaled back their hours as enrollment dwindled. A Waffle House probably would do well, but they're not in Minnesota.
Check out The Ledge. Otherwise head to the Cities.
For what it's worth, I hope you enjoy your time here as much as I enjoyed my time in South Carolina! I love the Charleston area!
I crushed many a Perkins assorted appetizer plate at 5am after a drunken night in campus
Fellow South Carolinian transplant here. Other people’s responses about the airport pretty much nailed it. They used to have contracts with other airlines but now the flights are really small airlines. There are a lot of small direct flights to Arizona and Florida. We’ve never taken those. We fly a lot and have people fly in. The airport drive feels easier after a time, and there are a couple of transportation services that will take you to the airport and back for less than parking fees at MSP, which are exorbitant.
Can’t speak to 24 hr restaurants cause we do t use em.
Occasionally some good concerts happen here, either at the Paramount (saw Kansas there) or outdoor festivals or more recently The Ledge. Again, driving to the cities for concerts will feel like nothing after a while. And yeah, by The Cities we mean either Minneapolis or St Paul, as there are really good medical facilities at U of M that we have to go to in St Paul, and it’s just fifteen minutes further. Seriously though, the drive is nothing. In the Charleston area recently, it can take just as long to get downtown from West Ashley as it does to drive to the cities from here. Oh, and we include Maple Grove in “The Cities” and there’s awesome shit there, just 45 minutes away.
Edit to add: one flight option is to fly out of Brainerd/Baxter. Much smaller airport, takes just as long to get to. Tiny TSA. A little more pricey on the tickets.
What part of South Carolina?
Charleston area… lived in Columbia for a while too.
Ahh I'm from Columbia!
Ok, so then to get to the MSP airport from here (1:20) is only three times the time to get from Forest Acres to the CAE airport (0:25). It’s not much different than if you lived in Blythewood or Lexington (ok maybe Orangeburg) and only went into Columbia for some stuff you needed or wanted to go to every once in a while.
St Cloud has kind of a small town feel but still close enough to get to the big stuff in a reasonable period of time. I like how “All the way across town” means 20 minutes. I like how when people say “Meet you at the Panera”, you don’t have to ask which one. There’s the second best hospital in Minnesota here, but still close to The U (of M) or even Mayo Clinic in Rochester if you really red something big. Schools are relatively good, particularly compared to SC public schools.
When they have expanded the flight schedules, it never makes money- the demand just isn't there.
24 hour dining? We don't even have 24 hour grocery stores, unlike smaller towns. There used to be Perkins and one or two others, but that dried up over the last 20 years and then the pandemic killed it off.
As for concerts, mid-level tours have dwindled recently, even for "The Cities." There isn't much demand at the venues you mentioned. But, there are some shows coming at the Ledge. We've had more over the last two years than ever before.
I can answer #1 kind of, and #3. To answer #1, St. Cloud used to have connecting flights to MSP via Delta Airlines but they stopped the service in I believe 2011 or 2012. No plans yet to begin service to MSP again. To answer #3, We have The Ledge out in Waite Park that'll hopefully draw in some more music artists. We've had some big names in all genres of music come through here recently.
We are just close enough to MSP most people would rather drive or be shuttled.
Gilberto's. That's about it. Everyone took lean management to the extreme and cut out the low margin night shifts.
Ledge and local/regional bands/acts do, but not much else. See #1. We are just too close vs Duluth. There's nothing between us and Fargo, and it's 70 miles to the heart of MSP so nobody looks here.
I will say, as we grow, that may change. It's been a behind the scenes plan to make St. Cloud the MSP alternative. Rivers edge, ledge, and Paramount are all cheaper to book than anything in MSP. The biggest issue, imo, is the rest of MN. They all shit on us. We are the bastard child. Not big enough for big, but too big for small. Too red for blue, too blue for red. Enough people for traffic, but not enough to fix it.
I can definitely see this being an alternative to MSP, in South Carolina we have an airport about an hour in any direction that will take you to a hub. And I feel like downtown St cloud has the infrastructure to be way more vibrant than it is
I feel that a major portion of the "old cloud" is trying to keep us down. They don't like that we are now the 3rd largest metro in the state.
I have gotten that feeling, there's a lot of " old ways" vibes going on here
Covid killed the 24hr restaurants. If you are looking for concerts, look up the ledge in waite park, mn. Alot of awesome shows coming this year. Here is the link for the ledge. https://www.theledgeamp.com/ I got tickets to a few. Awesome venue. Not a bad seat in the whole place in my opinion.
Everyone is poor
Yes due to inflation