The petition has been instigated by long-term customer and former Wodonga Ratepayers' Association president Ian Deegan.

Shop operator Marlene Smedley has been a tenant of the centre since 1986.

Her business can presently be accessed from both inside and outside the centre which was an identical arrangement to the former chemist building she will be be moving into to make way for an expansion of Chemist Warehouse into her existing shop.

"That business has been servicing West Wodonga and surrounds for a very long time and I want to see them survive into the future," Mr Deegan said.

"If the owners of the centre close the internal access that puts the business at serious risk of closing.

"If what is proposed comes to fruition people wishing to go to the newsagency-post office will have to come outside the centre main entry and walk right back down to the end of the building.

"Just about everywhere else in Australia you can walk in and put your lotto on, buy a paper or post a letter from inside a shopping centre.

"It's putting them in a no-win situation unnecessarily and I for one don't want to lose my post office and newsagency."

The shopping centre is owned by Sydney-based Hadley Green Investment Group.

It has been approached for comment.

The centre's plans for a $800,000 makeover, partly to accommodate Chemist Warehouse becoming a tenant, was revealed in September last year before the discount pharmacy opened its doors earlier this year.

The newsagency-post office was one of the original businesses when the centre first opened in 1986 and has survived numerous ownership changes and a long-running halt to an expansion in the early 2000s when owners at the time encountered financial difficulties.

The Coles supermarket was built soon after Centro Property Group bought the centre for $5.2 million.

In 2011, the shopping centre was sold to Hadley Green Securities for about $14 million.

It's understood the post office boxes will remain in their same location.