Shopkeepers in Kinross High Street claim gas works are hitting their trade at the busiest time of the year.
Energy supplier SGN has put traffic restrictions in place outside a row of businesses, while engineers get to work on a town centre gas main.
Retailers claim they had no prior warning about the operation and fear it will drive away Christmas shoppers.
The workers are expected to be on site for the rest of the week, SGN said.
Pamela Hunter, who owns Hunters of Kinross butchers with her husband Iain, said: “Nobody was aware of this. The first we know was when the vans appeared outside, and there was a line of traffic cones along the street.
“Obviously, this is a really busy time of year for us and we have to plan ahead to make sure all our customers get their orders.
“We knew we were going to be busy so we were planning to put a gazebo outside the shop, to help with social distancing when customers are waiting outside.
She said: “I was working from home when I got a call from the shop saying, there’s roadworks right outside and the road has been closed.
“I don’t know how we will cope if this continues much longer. Our delivery drivers will be up in arms.
“We’ve got 280 turkeys and 500 bags of potatoes coming in.”
Mrs Hunter said: “I contacted SGN and they told me it wasn’t emergency work or essential repairs, it was for a gas installation for an empty property.
“So if this wasn’t urgent, then why do they have to do this right now, at the busiest time of the year?”
A spokesman for SGN said: “We’re carrying out work to connect a new gas service to our gas main in High Street, Kinross.
“For everyone’s safety, three-way temporary traffic lights are in place at the High Street’s junction with Burns-Begg Street and Parliament Square.
“The lights are being manually controlled at peak time to help minimise inconvenience as much as possible.”
He said: “We hope to complete our work on Wednesday at which point we’ll begin restoring the road surface.
“All going well, we hope to remove our traffic lights returning the road to normal before the end of this week.”
A Perth and Kinross Council spokeswoman added that it was SGN’s responsibility to inform customer about it work.
