Business is not going up for some Beverly Center retailers. It’s not going down, either. It’s not going anywhere, at least not on the five La Cienega Boulevard escalators.

To get from the parking lots or streets, customers are taking elevators, climbing steps or walking around the West Hollywood-adjacent mall to the five other escalators which are working while Bayley Construction completes a roughly $17 million upgrade that is now entering its 14th month. Some think it’s been far too long.

“It’s not easy to get around here now, because you have to wait so long for the elevators or go all the way around to take the stairs,” said Camille Yung, a shopper who was at the mall one recent Friday.

Pet Love, a Beverly Center tenant for more than 15 years where walk-ins can coo at and purchase puppies, kittens and other critters, has seen its foot traffic dip by 30 percent and its sales fall off 50 percent since the work started, according to manager Carolina Malen.

“It’s getting a little better now because people are getting used to it,” she said, “but I think we’ll be slow until they reopen. The other side does look beautiful, and let’s hope it starts to actually attract more customers.”

The first phase of the work took place along Beverly Boulevard and was finished in November, ahead of schedule, according to General Manager A.J. Jemison, a spokeswoman for the Taubman Centers Inc.-owned mall. The La Cienega escalators and accompanying structural upgrade with full-glass encasement and decorative red tiling like that at the center’s Beverly Boulevard entrance is on schedule and should be completed by its scheduled date in October. That will be more than a year and a half of construction altogether and that is proving costly to at least some of the mall’s 160 retail shops and restaurants. Kristy’s Beauty Supply, which is next door to Pet Love and directly adjacent to the construction, had to close for a week while work was being done on a shared wall.

Escalators have a typical lifespan of about 20 years, and the center’s were the originals, installed when the mall opened 25 years ago.

Why is it taking so long? Because it’s a significant upgrade and a major undertaking, Jemison said.

“It makes a really big difference when you go into 21st century technology,” Jemison said of the new escalators.

The project doesn’t simply call for pulling out the old escalator machinery and replacing it with new. Instead, the steel supports must be upgraded. The structural work is extensive, especially since the mall is in an active earthquake zone and must meet seismic safety standards. Furthermore, all of the work is being done after the mall closes at 10 p.m. and before the morning rush hour for safety reasons.

“If it was the interior, we could barricade around it and just go for it,” Jemison said, “but it’s outdoors and the weather plays a big factor.”

In 2000, the Beverly Center spruced itself up with the addition of a rooftop terrace, an express elevator and some food court renovation, but the interior work wasn’t nearly as disruptive as the escalator overhaul.

“As a shopping center we go through our cycles and want to stay on top of the game,” said Jemison. “We also pay attention to what our competitors are doing and try to stay on top of that, too.”

The center’s merchants are also being pinched by competition from the new, outdoor village-style malls like the nearby Grove and upgraded Westfield Century City mall. In addition, major employers Creative Artists Agency LLC and International Creative Management Inc. have moved from nearby offices to Century City.