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Shopkeepers in parts of South Auckland start half an hour early to clean up used condoms, syringes and wash away urine.
Some have installed extra lighting to deter the prostitutes and their clients who walk the streets at night.
Many spoke to the Weekend Herald only on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.
It is this climate - and a background of increasingly violent turf wars between prostitutes - that has prompted the Manukau City Council to ask the Government to change laws around the sex workers industry.
One businessman, whose store is outside Hunters Plaza in Papatoetoe, said he was forced to turn up to work about half an hour before his store opened, to clean up offensive litter that had turned up outside his shop overnight.
"It's a daily clean-up. We normally find a lot of condoms and needles - we just have to pick them up and put it in the rubbish [bin]."
The businessman, who did not want to be named, said he had spent around $1000 installing extra lighting around his store, to deter street workers and their clients from camping outside.
"The whole place used to be very dark - a lot of dark corners where they would come, do their thing, then go. We put in nice big windows too - that's helped, but we still have people loitering," he said.
Others have told the Weekend Herald that used condoms and syringes on street footpaths, criminal activity, gang involvement and intimidation, were destroying their efforts to run a business.
There is support here for the council which wants a repeal of - or amendment to - the Prostitution Reform Act 2003.
Councillors are asking for street prostitution to be made illegal nationwide or at least for local councils to have the power to ban street prostitution in their area.
But there is also scepticism that it would eradicate a problem that has existed in parts of South Auckland since at least the early 1990s.
The Hunters Corner businessman said he was happy that moves were being made but "I want to see what they can do to get rid of them, because I think they'll still come around even if they're not allowed."
One businessman on Great South Road said he was sick of the "hassle" that street prostitutes put him through.
Councillor Dick Quax said the issue of turf wars and violence involving street prostitutes had pushed the council to take its case to the top.
