To avoid a space crunch, the Shakopee District Office has moved to an unlikely location -- the local mall.

The Central Family Center building previously housed the district office, but moving departments like the superintendent's office, human resources, food service and community education to the new location has opened up eight classrooms for early childhood programming. Several classrooms at West Junior High are now free as well thanks to the consolidation.

"It made complete sense to us," said Crystal McNally, the district's spokeswoman, adding that the new digs are also a way to boost traffic in the mall, which has some empty storefronts.

The district moved into the Shakopee Town Square mall starting in late October and recently finished. The storefront, about a mile from the Central Family Center, used to house the Minnesota School of Business, so it was set up to be an office-type space, said McNally.

"It's a nice space," she said. "They left a lot of furniture for us, supplies for us so it saved us some money."

Having so many departments in one place allows for collaboration, she said.

The district's Tokata Learning Center, an alternative high school, was already just down the hall. There's a movie theatre on the other side of the mall, and next-door neighbors are a Dollar General and a Goodwill.