The Home Consortium, the new owners of the failed hardware chain’s 61 sites, has submitted a development application for a $3.4 million refit of the building, which will pave the way for 200 new jobs with national electronics, furniture and homewares retailers.

Evitte Donnelly was the service supervisor at Masters Wagga, working in the Hammond Avenue building from its opening to its closure in December, 2016. When she heard it would become a retail centre rather than a much-rumoured sports stadium, Ms Donnelly was pleased.

“I reckon it’s excellent news,” Ms Donnelly said.

“I’d heard rumours it would be a netball court and that would have been a waste of space.

“It would be the best fit for that side of town, boutiques wouldn’t suit that building, it’s more of a homewares and hardware area.”

News of the development came almost exactly one year after Woolworths first announced it would wind up the troubled chain, which had been launched in 2011 to challenge Bunnings’ grip on the home improvement market. 

Most Masters staff had gotten new jobs – some within the Woolworths group – while Ms Donnelly had gone to the Commonwealth Bank. Even though her plans of working with Masters’ Sydney-based marketing team were in tatters, there were new opportunities with the bank.

“I’m working as a teller now, but I just graduated in international business management, so now I’ll do it with the Commonwealth Bank,” Ms Donnelly said.

“I’d love to go and visit, see what they’ve done with the place, but I won’t be going back to work there.”

A poll asking what stores Wagga residents wanted to see in the iconic building received more than 6000 results in just 24 hours. The frontrunner with 20 per cent of the vote was Chemist Warehouse, a discount pharmacy chain owned by one of the Home Consortium’s members.