Paul Harper gets his first look inside Christchurch's stricken CBD - and is shocked by what he sees.

Richard Ballantyne, of Ballantyne's department store, says there had been concerns about the central district even before the first earthquake in September.

REDgroup's unsecured New Zealand creditors were owed $21.5 million when the company went into voluntary administration.

Booksellers Whitcoulls and Borders went into administration last week with $2.9 million in the bank, according to a report by administrator Ferrier Hodgson.

Central Christchurch is facing financial oblivion, a local business leader says.

Managers given the job of sorting out Whitcoulls' finances are being paid up to $830 an hour.

The National Distribution Union (NDU) has criticised the owners of troubled bookshops Whitcoulls and Borders for putting workers' jobs on the line without consultation.

Disgruntled drivers are being encouraged to take legal action after being hit with fines of up to $300 by a "cowboy" clamping company in Auckland.

Union representatives will meet the administrators of the troubled Whitcoulls and Borders bookshop chains on Monday.

Former Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright has made a plea to the Government to be bolder on alcohol reform.

Whitcoulls undone by debt ...

Extra security has been hired for Borders and Whitcoulls stores as staff face aggressive customers angry about conditions placed on redeeming gift vouchers.

Freeze comes a day after the Government ordered a review of whether the local market was working well for consumers.