By Amelia Romanos of NZPA

Christchurch - Shop owners sat on the roadside in tears today as their stores in the Christchurch suburb of St Albans were torn down.

The row of about half a dozen shops, as well as second floor apartments, at the intersection of Cranford and Westminster Streets, was condemned yesterday after Saturday's 7.1 magnitude quake destroyed roofs and walls.

Today officials took to the site with a digger.

Detective Paul Johannsen said police were called to the property about 12pm as concerns grew about its increasing instability.

"The wind was coming up and with the holes that were already in the building it was acting like a sail and was wobbling about," he said.

"A short time after that we had another aftershock which created a three inch split in one of the main beams and the exterior wall was clearly sagging out.

"The road was still open at that point and there was a real risk of the building falling and hitting a passing car."

Watching on as the building was torn apart was Rose Lennon, the owner of La Boutique, a home and giftware shop in the complex.

"It's just heartbreaking," she told NZPA.

"Today I should be operating, serving customers, instead I am sitting on the street watching it be ripped down."

Ms Lennon said she and her son, Myles Alexander, had been in the building an hour earlier, trying to rescue undamaged stock, much of which was still inside when the demolition began.

"At first it was all right, but then it got really scary. The building was shaking and I just said 'no, we have just got to go and get out of here, I don't care anymore'."

Ms Lennon, who had owned the shop for three years, said she was not sure she would reopen the business.

"I don't know what I will do, I can't even think. I am just going to work it through day by day."

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