Peering through windows into darkened stores, downtown shoppers were stuck with a few less options Saturday after an early-morning power outage turned the lights off on several downtown businesses, including half of the usually bustling Westfield Mall.

The outage was reported around 8:30 a.m. and lasted throughout the height of the shopping day, knocking out power to the east side of Westfield Mall, excluding Bloomingdales, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. officials said.

Hundreds of shoppers were turned away by mall security and told to stick to the Nordstrom’s end of the mall. About four other downtown businesses were affected by the outage, including Fourth Street Bar & Grill Sports.

“What a pain this is,” said Giants fan Jeff Riordan, 34, a SoMa resident hoping for a pre-game drink at the bar. “I should’ve just stayed at home.”

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PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi said the outage was caused by an underground cable failure at Market and First streets. He expected the equipment would be fixed and power fully restored to all businesses by Saturday night.

maldax@sfexaminer.com