A QUIET week is in store for businesses around Suntec City with shoppers giving the Apec venues a wide berth.

There are also few road closures and most areas are accessible to the public yet bosses are already feeling the pinch.

The slowdown began last weekend with one despairing shop manager saying plaintively: 'We don't know where all the people went.'

Several restaurant and shop managers told The Straits Times that sales started to be affected as early as last Friday with declines of 20 to 50 per cent.

Ms Jessica Soh, director of Billy Bombers said: 'People avoid the area because of the perception that the roads will be closed, even if it is only one or two lanes affected.'

The manager of the TCC coffee shop in Suntec City Mall, Ms Evelyn Chua, said even pedestrians are avoiding the area because of the high security.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.