Shakopee businesses see boom as more move to southwestern metro

Roughly a half hour southwest of downtown Minneapolis, businesses in Shakopee, Minnesota, say they're booming due to area growth.

"It's just a fun little town," said Lauri Bittner, who owns Bittner's Bakery.

Shakopee now has 45,000 residents.

"When I moved here, there was 6,000 people," Bittner added.

"When you walk in, you used to be able to know everybody," said Kristina Lebens, a bartender at Babe's Place. "Now it's like, 'I don't know half of these people anymore,' which is good."

Babe's Place sits right in the city's social district, a historic area where you're legally allowed to sip and stroll outdoors with your beverage in hand during certain times and dates, a new concept put in place last year.

Lebens says Babe's Place has become busier over the years.

Down the block, Bittner's Bakery is selling the sweet stuff.

"There was a director back in the '80s, oh wait, the '90s, that was huge into the visitors bureau and just promoted, promoted, promoted, and it just became the entertainment capital," Bittner said about Shakopee.

The area already has Canterbury Park, Valley Fair and Mystic Lake Casino, but something else is about to open up later this week: Mystic Lake Amphitheater, holding 19,000 seats.

"Some of us are a little weary on how traffic is gonna run, but other than that, they're excited," said Bittner.

"We've got more apartment buildings up, tunnels, houses being built," Lebens added.

When WCCO asked if customers are liking the growth, Lebens said it's "about half and half."

"I feel like it's far enough from the cities, but yet it's close enough to get there if you need to," Babe's bartender Maggie Lang said.