WODONGA'S retail offering is seemingly changing by the day.
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Long-awaited major shopping centres have either been completed, are nearing completion or in the case of Wodonga Plaza, changing hands, with a $43.5 million sale to a Western Australian property company, M/Group, settled on Wednesday.
The confirmation of sale also comes with the announcement the new owners have secured a tenant for part of the Safeway supermarket which closed this month.
In a welcome boost, part of the former supermarket footprint will be taken up by Best&Less which is a newcomer to the Wodonga shopping scene.
New jobs is the upside of the move, but the news is tempered by the fact it is only taking part of the site and negotiations are underway to find another business to take up the remainder of the space.
This type of activity will become the norm over the next few years as the Woolworths redevelopment on the corner of High Street and Elgin Boulevard and the nearby Mann Central shopping centre target retailers to fill up specialty shop spaces in the two multi-million dollar developments.
But as the city moves into a new retail era it is important to remember the contribution made by two long-standing businesses which will call stumps on Friday.
They are Fogarty Jewellers and Peter White's Furniture which have both been operating on High Street since the mid-1990s.
Michael Fogarty isn't calling time permanently just yet as he plans to set up a mobile van in Beechworth Road for two days a week from September, but Wodonga will be the poorer for their existing businesses closes.
They have done the hard yards of Wodonga being considered the poor relation to Albury in terms of shopping and found a way to survive through various changes to High Street created in part by the removal of the railway crossing.
There is more pain to come for central Wodonga's remaining retailers with more works to start in High Street in coming months and extend into next year.
High Street from Bond to South street will be first to start before works at the southern end to Lawrence Street get underway next year.
The works are necessary as the city centre continues to undergo a once in a lifetime regeneration, but keeping the pain to a minimum for traders has to be the No.1 priority.