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The weekend before Christmas is crucial for most retailers, who count on brisk sales.

But such sales were not the case for 26 of the 28 businesses in the City Hall and Orchard Road areas that The Straits Times spoke to on Monday.

Sales staff said their shops had been exceptionally quiet on Saturday and Sunday morning, with sales picking up only after about 3 p.m.

Only two businesses - Rubi Shoes at Ion Orchard and Spaghetti Goemon at CityLink Mall - said they had met their weekend sales targets.

Their business managers attributed it to their later opening times and proximity to the MRT station.

The other stores all reported being 20 to 30 percent down in takings, with those heavily dependent on MRT commuters claiming their business had halved.

Etude House at Orchard Link, which sells make-up, saw 40 percent less business than on a regular weekend, said store assistant Lim Yuxi, who blamed the MRT breakdown.

"Usually we expect even more business because it is the weekend before Christmas, so this happened at the worst possible time for us," she said.

Mandeep Chopra, 33, owner of Limited Edt at 313@Somerset, which sells designer shoes, reported poor business in the morning and early afternoon, compared to a regular weekend.

Overall, business was down about 20 percent for him on Saturday and Sunday.

"Things picked up a bit later on in the day, but overall business still fell," he said.

Weekend sales figures at Raffles City's Tommy Hilfiger store ended $4,000 below target because of the poor Saturday turnout, said store supervisor Dennis Vergana, 28.

That was a drop of about 30 percent.

Ion Orchard's Havaianas shoe outlet and *Scape's Red Mango, which sells frozen yoghurt, said they also fared poorly.

Retailers were not the only ones hit.

Beauty outlets - usually packed ahead of Christmas - had customers calling to cancel appointments.

Hair Folio Modern, a salon at Dhoby Ghaut Xchange, had 20 cancellations, out of about 100 appointments.

Walk-in customers at facial spa Jet Concepts halved and six people out of 40 who had made appointments, cancelled.

Wheelock Place's Browhaus, a hair removal chain, suffered 20 cancellations and postponements out of about 100 appointments.

Hair Folio Modern owner Dawn Koh, 36, said: "My customers said it was due to the MRT problem and they didn't want to be caught in traffic jams. The phone just rang non-stop with calls."

The situation, however, seems to be easing.

About half the stores said sales on Monday had bounced back to those of a regular Monday.

At about 6 p.m. on Monday, a visit to Wisma Atria and Takashimaya found the area thronged with people carrying bags of Christmas shopping.

At Rubi Shoes, in front of Orchard MRT station, business on Monday was much better than on a regular Monday, said store manager Nisa Noor Kahlan, 21.

She thought the store's sale, which began on Monday, had helped too. "Customers were looking forward to that, and now that the MRT is up and running, people are coming back," she said.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.