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Government shutdown slows down lunch spots around the Denver Federal Center

Nick Andurlakis says his Lakewood cafe is usually packed to the brim on weekdays, but many of his regulars are federal workers.

The claim to fame at Nick's Cafe in Lakewood is all over the wall in the form of Elvis Presley memorabilia. 

Owner Nick Andurlakis says people come from all over to eat the sandwich that he helped create and says he once served to The King himself. 

"We've had people from Denmark, Japan, last summer we had a lot of people from the southern part of the United States that came here just for the sandwich," said Nick's wife and co-worker Kathy Andurlakis. 

But those people are not Nick's Cafe regulars. 

Nick Andurlakis says the ones that come every day from the Denver Federal Center just up the street have disappeared.

"Some of our customers up the street aren't coming in; they're not there," he said. "I think a lot of this has to do with the government shutdown. We have a pretty steady clientele, for 32 years, and pretty much every day we're full and as soon as that thing shut down we stopped being full."

Nick Andurlakis believes they've lost about half their business during the partial government shutdown. 

"It is hurting us a lot," he said.

His wife has lost some steps.

"I have a Fitbit and at one point in time I was doing about 5-6 thousand steps a day, and now I'm down to about 3-4 so that kind of tells you how fast I'm not moving around," Kathy Andurlakis laughed. "And this thing's pretty accurate."

The couple is still smiling to the customers they do have, but say this will hurt their bottom line.  

"No we won't get any back pay, we just have to keep going and hope for the best, that's all we can do," Nick Andurlakis said. 

If only Elvis were around to buy more sandwiches. 

"Elvis probably would have kicked some money it," Nick Andurlakis laughed. 

Across the street from the Denver Federal Center are several chains. 

Chipotle says they haven't lost business, but Tokyo Joe's and Potbelly Sandwich Shop both say it's been slower since the shutdown.

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