Retail figures give snapshot of quake's economic effect

8:59 am on 2 March 2011

Christchurch's retail spending using electronic card transactions dropped by almost half in the five days following Tuesday's earthquake.

Paymark says there the number of transactions dropped by more than 500,000 and shoppers spent about $5 million less per day compared with the same period a year ago.

Retailers are slowly reopening after checking that staff and premises are safe, though the central business district remains closed.