New Jersey American Water crews have been working since early Tuesday morning to fix a water main break on Morris Avenue in Union Township. It remains unclear as of Wednesday night if the work will be done by Friday and local business owners say they are starting to feel the effects.

Many of the stores in the Lowes Shopping Center were closed on Wednesday and were unsure of when they’d reopen. Customers looking to spend a little money a week before Christmas were met with sign after sign saying stores were closed for business, at least for the day.

Yadirah Lee, of Hillside, couldn't complete her errands because a store was closed.

"I came here yesterday, and the water main break was still going on, but the stores were open. I came to this Jembro to exchange my pants for school because I have to go to work tonight,” says Lee. “They told me that they’re closed and all of these stores are closed and I’m not understanding why.”

Water is still flowing along Morris Avenue and accessing Morris Avenue from Route 22 is still a no-go without cutting through the Loews shopping center. The manager of Jembro said they have no water, the store is closed and they didn’t know when they’d get the OK to reopen. Several doors down at the "Dollar Tree" the manager there said the fire department OK’ed them to reopen.

About a block from the Lowes shopping center, the Mark Twain Diner is open for business, but the closures and detours are deterring customers. Manager Arturo Mena said Tuesday night they saw a little more business because of an event at Keane University which is down the street.

"Tonight, actually is not as good as yesterday even though they know we’re open. You can see there’s not as many people today. We’re hoping for later on it’ll get a little better,” says Mena.

Besides low water pressure, service to people's homes isn’t impacted. But the closures and detours are still in effect with the main closure along Morris Ave between the Route 22 overpass and the entrance to the Lowes shopping center.

News 12 spoke to Union Township Mayor Manny Figueiredo over the phone about the situation. He says American Water hasn’t been able to identify where the leak is coming from and until they do, the Department of Transportation can’t assess the road and say whether it can be used.

Officials previously said the work would be done by Friday, but now that deadline is up in the air. Residents are being told to steer clear of the area.