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Businesses have been "coned off" in Forbury Rd and St Clair Four Square owner Sandra Millar says customers are now avoiding the small St Clair shopping area.
The Dunedin City Council is installing a new peanut-shaped roundabout at the intersection of Forbury, Bay View and Allandale Rds outside the grocery store.
And when approached by the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Mrs Millar said she knew the safety improvements needed to be done.
But customers who did make it into her shop these days were surprised to learn the disruption would continue into December.
They had not been informed "exactly what’s happening and what’s not".
"We’re coned off," she said.
"We did the hard slog through [Covid-19 Alert] Level 4.
"Our locals looked after us — and we in turn looked after our locals — and then suddenly it’s as though they haven’t got a choice ...
"It’s not so easy for them to get in here.
"Not everybody can physically walk in, some people have to pull up to the front door so they can come in."
Mrs Millar said her business was "easily" down 10% once the work started.
Locals were avoiding the area due to the congestion caused by the roadworks and on a bad day, 300 fewer people walked through the doors of the store compared with the corresponding period last year, she said.
A customer yesterday contacted the ODT to raise the issue.
Leckie’s Butchery, next to the Four Square, declined to comment.
In a council statement in July, council transport engineering and road safety team leader Hjarne Poulsen said with 11 crashes from 2013 to 2018, the intersection had a high crash rate, so the plan for the roundabout and pedestrian crossing points was to slow traffic and make the intersection safer for all road users and people shopping in the area.
Yesterday, a council spokesman said the council had yet to receive any feedback on the change in the area.
"The change will result in more car parks closer to the nearby shopping area, so any impact on businesses is expected to be positive," he said.