GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Downtown Grants Pass shoppers might want to keep an eye on the clock. This holiday season, customers will not be able to park for an unlimited amount of time in public spots. Customers will have to move their car after three hours. This is the same time limit as the rest of the year. 

Rob Pell, the owner of Sunshine Natural Foods, worked with the city to make this change. Pell said employees who work downtown were taking advantage of the unlimited parking. They were parking in front of businesses for the entire day instead of buying employee parking passes. That left no spots for many customers. 

The City of Grants Pass asked Pell to survey Downtown Grants Pass businesses. Out of the 62 businesses Pell survey, 56 of them voted to discontinue the unlimited holiday parking time limit. 

"With Amazon really being such a threat to brick and mortar stores, we feel we have to remove any possible obstacles for our customers getting to us," said Pell. 

Jack Smith, the owner of Blind George's, supports the change. 

"You have customers that will skip your business," said Smith. "We have customers that come in here, half a dozen of them or so, that tell me straight out that if there's not parking out front, they wouldn't stop."

Both business owners said they've noticed more parking spots are available for customers in front of their store, this year. 

Downtown businesses are still working with the city to improve parking, said Pell. They want to improve signage so it'll be easier for everyone to find a place to park. 

There are eight public parking lots in Downtown Grants Pass. For specific parking lot addresses, you can click here.