The traffic cones are out and barriers are up as Dunedin's Retail Quarter undergoes a facelift.
The George Street revamp was prompted by the need to replace old water, wastewater and stormwater pipes - some date back to the late 1800s.
It has been more than three decades since the last upgrade, and the council has earmarked more than $28 million to make the area more people friendly with new paving, street furniture, lighting and public art.
Walking down George Street, the latest construction zone was concentrated on the city block between Moray Place and St Andrew's Street, a short stroll from the Octagon.
It was down to one lane for southbound traffic only - a taste test of the one way design that has been signed off - but it remained open for business to shoppers and pedestrians.
Helen Ransby from Trade Aid was excited to see George Street get a revamp, saying the pipes needed to be replaced and the street could do with a tidy up.
"Parts of the street where they'd taken out some rubbish bins, the whole area around there, was quite dirty. There's nowhere to sit. There's no trees. It's functional."
She wasn't sure what impact the construction would have on business.
"I mean maybe it won't. Maybe people will be a bit more interested to come down here and have a look at what's going on, even though it's just construction work. It's something different happening in the city. It's just hard to tell."
A few shops down the road is Brent Weatherall Jeweller - it has a sign out the front banning the local mayor from entry.
Its owner Brent Weatherall petitioned against a one way street design for George Street and when the council voted to adopt it last September saying it would offer more space for other uses and improve road safety, he introduced the ban.
He wanted the decision to be reversed, saying shop owners have been happy with the traffic flow since horse and cart days.
"The ripple effect will basically gridlock the centre of Dunedin and make the choice to shop in an area frequently, conveniently, effortlessly - will be severely impacted."
But he wasn't against the upgrade itself, and said the timing worked well.
"We are going in to tumbleweed season as I call it, and I really think that they're not removing access to any of the stores and they're going to do their level best to maintain it.
"It may not be as convenient as what it is. But I'd rather my block be developed in the middle of winter in tumbleweed season than in the middle of the festive season."
Across the street, barriers were more of a feature with signs saying the footpath was closed, and customer and business access only.
A few metres away was Jonathan's Photo Warehouse.
Group manager Jonathan Kemp expected there would be some short term pain for hopefully long term gain.
"Obviously it's going to be a positive step in the sense of the look and the layout. What effect it will have on us as a business, we'll have to wait and see so it's early stages.
"But the contractors and the council have taken a lot of care and thought in making sure that we can operate and provide our services to the customers during the changes they are making."
Tenniell Anderton opened the Bakehouse on Bond - the George Street site - about seven months ago, and says business has been ticking away.
She has been pleased with how accommodating the team in charge of the revamp have been to businesses.
"I think it's going to look really good. I like the idea of all of the seating ... around. I think that will help and bring people to town.
"I feel like there is a bit of a downfall with the parking and with it being a one-way system. But overall, I think the outlook of the designs I've seen look really nice."
The Dunedin City Council acknowledged construction work was disruptive.
It has opened a project office so businesses and residents could meet with staff to resolve any issues, has tweaked on-street parking to offset any losses, provided additional signage to let pedestrians known the shops and eateries were open for business, and was encouraging shoppers to visit through a marketing campaign.
While work on the city block was expected to wrap up in October, the full revamp wasn't predicted to be ready until 2024.
