Spending via Paymark's EFTPOS terminals in the Canterbury region over the weekend of the earthquake was down 32% or NZ$8.1 million on the same period a year ago, Paymark has reported.

"All retail sectors were badly affected during weekend trading, with Saturday sales down 43% and Sunday sales down 18% on last year," Paymark said.

"Amongst some of the hardest hit over the weekend were stores that would normally be experiencing an increase in sales due to Father’s Day including Gift stores (- 81%), Camera/Photo shops (-79%) and Electronics stores (- 77%)," it said.

Parmark said it had been a tough month for Canterbury with year-on-year statistics showing the region was down 0.6% for the month of August.

"Difficult winter trading was also felt by much of the country with spending outside of petrol stations and supermarkets down by 0.4% on August 2009, and annual growth of only 0.2% over the last four months, an experience reminiscent of the tough November – February period of 2008/9."

However, some regions were growing, including West Coast (+ 5.1%) and Palmerston North (+ 4.7%).

What are you seeing in Canterbury's retailing and small business sectors? Your experiences? How do you see the region coping and recovering?