Quake already hitting Canterbury retail economy

Westende Gemtime Jewellers owner Roger Kelso among the rubble covering his business on the corner of Worchester and Manchester Streets in in central Christchurch. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Canterbury businesses are doing a third less trade than the same time last year in the wake of the massive earthquake on Saturday, Paymark figures show.

Electronics payment provider Paymark said total spending across its network in Canterbury on the weekend was down 32 per cent - an $8.1 million year-on-year deficit.

Saturday sales were down 43 per cent, and Sunday sales 18 per cent on last year.

Amongst the hardest hit were stores that would normally have grabbed Father's Day attention - gift stores ( down 81 per cent), camera/photo shops (down 79 per cent) and electronics stores (down 77 per cent).

Paymark chief executive Simon Tong said it was working to help retailers get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

"We're doing all that we can to help those affected by the crisis and are offering businesses that have been unable to trade over the past few days a waiver on some, or all, of their terminal fees to help ease the burden," he said.

It had already been a tough winter for Canterbury retailers, with year-on-year statistics showing it down 0.6 per cent for August.

Difficult winter trading was felt by much of the country, with spending outside of petrol stations and supermarkets down by 0.4 per cent on August 2009, and annual growth only 0.2 per cent over the last four months.

- NZPA