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Melanie Winnichyn smiles as a customer enters her dry cleaning shop to drop off an armful of clothes.

That’s been happening less frequently than usual over the last seven days, she says.

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Outside, a pair of private security guards stand in the parking lot, keeping watch as small knots of picketers wearing parkas, snow pants and vests emblazoned with “On Strike” pace the frozen sidewalk.

Photo by Kayle Neis / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

“When people come in here, they want to drop off and run,” said Winnichyn, whose Accomplished Cleaners shop shares a parking lot with the Saskatoon Co-op grocery store and gas station in University Heights.

“They have busy lives, and right now it’s an inconvenience. If that happens, it slows down the industry … If they’re inconvenienced, they’ll pass that off to another time and maybe pass you all along,” she added.

Winnichyn is one of several business owners who say their customers have been annoyed and their bottom lines affected by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1400 strike, which began a week ago.