At Flowers by Curt, only two customers walked in all day.

At Tiger City Sports, employees were keeping busy with inventory or cleaning chores during the lull.

At Grampy’s Store, the Story Lady Doll and Toy Museum and other businesses, the doors were locked and a sign in the window explained: &uot;Closed due to road construction.&uot;

Half of Broadway Avenue and portions of Clark and William streets were among the first to shut down as the downtown paving project got into full swing Thursday. With street parking difficult to find and municipal parking lots filling quickly with employees and a few customers, shoppers who ventured downtown faced longer-than-usual walks to many shops.

If a small sampling of stores was any indication, customers were staying away during the construction. But the feeling among shopkeepers was that it’s a necessary inconvenience.

&uot;It will be over soon,&uot; said Tina Stripe of Flowers by Curt. &uot;And we do need it.&uot;

At the flower shop, employees were kept busy with phone orders and wedding arrangements for the weekend, but because Clark Street was closed off, drivers had to back their cars down the alley to the other side of the block to get out.

Parking was another problem.

&uot;The parking lot is full,&uot; flower shop employee Heather Tews told Stripe as she came in the back door. &uot;Everything’s full.&uot;

Flowers by Curt was one of many businesses on the west side of Broadway, where milling began Thursday and paving was set to begin today. They were entirely blocked off by traffic, along with many other buildings along the street.

But even on the east side, where traffic was open but parking spaces were closed, business slowed to a trickle.

&uot;We’ve had like five customers all day,&uot; said Maggie Veldman, an employee of Tiger City Sports. Anybody who did make it to the store seemed to be parking around the corner and behind the store, she said.

On top of that, the heavy machinery kicked up huge clouds of dust.

&uot;It’s got to get done,&uot; Stripe said, &uot;but it does make it interesting.&uot;

Revised street work schedule:

The city’s downtown street plans have been changed.

To help alleviate disruptions in the downtown area during the week of July 4, the contractor has revised their schedule for the downtown resurfacing project as follows:

– Phase one &045; milled Thursday and first layer paved today: West side of Broadway Avenue from Main Street to Fountain Street; Clark Street, from St. Mary Avenue to Broadway; Washington Avenue, from Fountain to Clark; William Street, from Washington to Broadway; College Street, from Washington to Broadway; and Pearl Street, from Washington to Broadway.

– Phase two &045; milled Friday and first layer paved Saturday: Washington, from Clark to Pearl; and William, from Broadway to Elizabeth Avenue.

– Phase three &045; milled Tuesday, July 9 and first layer paved Wednesday, July 10: East side of Broadway from Main to Fountain; Clark, from Broadway to Lake Avenue; and Elizabeth, from William to Clark.

– Phase four &045; milled Wednesday, July 10 and first layer paved Thursday, July 11: Newton, from Clark to railroad tracks; and College, from Broadway to Newton.

The streets will remain closed to traffic on the days that they are to be milled and paved. One half of Broadway Avenue will remain open at all times to traffic. Sidewalk and curb replacements will also be continuing.

The schedule is subject to change because of weather delays.

Residents can contact the city engineer’s office at 377-4325 with questions.