GREAT FALLS — After more than 30 years in Holiday Village Mall, Hallmark is now clearing their shelves that used to be full of greeting cards, ornaments, puzzles, and more.
The owner of this Hallmark location is retiring and without a new owner purchasing the store, the doors are closing permanently as of Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
McKenna Dickey reports from Holiday Village Mall:
“As far as here, every single person has become a friend, whether they were customers or whether they were coworkers. It’s become like a small little family,” said store manager Christa James as she reflects on her time at the store.
Beth Morrow, the Holiday Village Mall property manager, said they hoped new owners would buy the store.
“It’s a staple company and people love Hallmark everything, so yeah, we’d love to have them back. It’d be wonderful and I hope that happens,” said Morrow.
While the possibility of having Hallmark reopened in Great Falls is unknown, the store manager said it’s bittersweet to see this chapter coming to a close.
“We want to see everybody at events and go and do and be with their families, but unfortunately, we don’t get to be the close-knit family we are, working in one store anymore,” James said.
Although several stores in the mall have come and gone throughout the years, there have been some new places recently, keeping Holiday Village Mall buzzing.
“We have [opened] four new places since I’ve been here and that’s been two and a half years,” Morrow said.
Morrow said they are focusing on opening businesses that sell food.
“Food brings people, so we’re hoping that tenants, prospective tenants, will see that and want to get back in the mall.”
The two newest businesses in the mall are Wyrd Gifts & Longhouse, and Asian Mix.
Wyrd Gifts offers an eclectic mix of specialty gifts and food options.
"We have those specialty gifts; we have dragons, and we have crystals, and we have jewelry, those metaphysical items," said owner Corinna Lakey.
Beyond the unique gift items, the shop also serves gourmet hot dogs, tacos, donuts, fresh-squeezed lemonade, flappies, and more.
"We don't have anything gourmet or Scandinavian or really Viking in Great Falls," said Lakey.
It's open from 9am to 7pm Mondays through Saturdays, and 9am to 6pm on Sundays. Food orders stop at 6:30pm on Mondays through Saturdays, and at 5:30pm on Sundays.
Asian Mix opened several weeks ago and and features Chinese, Thai, and Myanmar food, along with sushi, and notes that all items are available on a "spicy level" of 1 to 5.
Owned by an Asian immigrant family Mi Keh and her husband, the pair share a heart for the Montana community and a passion for introducing and sharing culture through food.
“My husband and me, I’m thinking he can cook Chinese food and sushi and I can do Thai food, that’s why I give the name “Asian Mix” because we have to mix together,” explained Mi Keh.
The pair built the restaurant from the ground up, starting out with a food truck, opening a restaurant in Dillon, and eventually finding support in the Great Falls community to open up a second location.
People have already started lining up to get a taste of the new spot, praising both the food, and the inspiring story behind it. “I see the costumers love my food and the comments have touched my heart,” Mi Keh said. “I want to share my food to the community because they are very, you know, kind, lovely, and I want to be a part of family.”
That love and hard work is shown in every detail of Asian Mix, and Mi Keh didn’t waste a second thanking the community for their support. Her thankfulness moved her to tears as she explained her move to the United States.
She said, “I never dreamed I will have a house, and I never think I will have my own car to drive, and I never dreamed I would have my own restaurant. I don’t read and speak English very well so the support, the friends and community who got me here, it’s good.”
You can find Asian Mix near the mall food court across from Little Athens. The hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 -7 and 12-6 on Sunday. For more information, click here to visit the Facebook page, or call 406-315-1247.
