Reviews & Comments
Watertown, SD
Small City opportunity with the Big City quirks -
12/16/2006I was born and raised in Watertown, SD, lived here for 14 years and then moved out to Rapid City and lived there for 5 years. Just came back to live here again and I must say just in the past 5-6 years it has changed immensely.
On Business : There's plenty of growth as far as resturaunts and buildings being put up, but the mall is a joke. Half of the mall is abandoned, big signs where the stores used to be. And there's not much selection for what we have in the mall - 4 clothing stores, 3 shoe stores, 1 music store, 2 electronics stores. There's really nothing fancy about the music or electronics stores. If you're a family man or a soccer mom shopping for clothing, the mall might do you well, but half the time you won't find what you're looking for because the "watertown location doesn't carry it". I will say that you won't have a hard time finding a parking spot in front of any store, because most of the time people prefer to be sitting at home knitting or watching TV.
On people : Lots and lots of senior citizens that prefer to be treated with respect, drive fancy cars, and are living off of the city. Someone coming from a big city will quickly get frustrated and angsty (dare I say road rage even?). The speed limits throughout town are 25 mph and rarely go beyond that. The drivers drive 20 mph because if you are caught going 2 or 3 miles over the speed limit, the cops will pull you over and write you a ticket faster than you can take your seat belt off. Oh yeah, and there's a stiff fine for that as well here. Most of my driving life I have lived in Rapid City, have only gotten pulled over once for rolling a stop sign, and never had a problem with getting any tickets. I moved here, and already after 6 months I've gotten two tickets for absolutely mundane things. People are generally nice, however, but don't expect people to go out of their way to service you. Customer service is lacked entirely in this town and people often do not say hi or smile when they pass you on the street. It is South Dakota however so you can expect a few nice farming folk.
On Climate : In the summers, it is humid and sticky, but if you like thunderstorms there's a few to be seen. Temps top out at 100 or so in the summer, avg temp is 80-85. In the spring it's very very mild, a couple showers now and then, but for the most part its uneventful except for the country side which can yield some pretty beautiful imagery. Temps in the spring avg about 55-60. Winters are very