The enormous blue building on Hammond Avenue remains empty while the new owners, Home Consortium, work to get 61 sites nationwide up and running.

A spokesman for Home said it was too early to provide an update on when the Wagga site would reopen, but there were plans to open between 30 and 40 centres in 2018, with an announcement coming in the new year.

Wagga Business Chamber general manager Anabel Williams said members were already asking about the massive site, which was set to become a destination shopping centre.

“This will be the first major shopping centre people encounter as they come in from the airport side of town,” Mrs Williams said. “Everyone’s waiting to see who the anchor store will be. Looking at the Home Consortium’s website, they’ve got a lot of major retailers on board, so if they secure a major chain we don’t already have… it will generate a lot of interest.”

Mrs Williams hoped Home would soon release details for any Wagga businesses that might consider moving into the new centre.

Major retailers such as Chemist Warehouse, Petbarn and Nick Scali furniture have moved into eight former Masters sites across the country, including two in Sydney and one near Newcastle.

Made up from a group of wealthy private families including the owners of Spotlight, Anaconda and Chemist Warehouse, the Home Consortium picked up the failed hardware chain’s 61 sites last year in a deal worth close to $1 billion. The Spotlight Property Group had a long history of developing large-format homemaker centres, often with Spotlight and Anaconda stores as anchors, making it ideally placed to benefit from the Masters debacle.

With the Wagga building being one of Masters’ largest at about 15,000 square metres, Home chief executive David Di Pilla told The Daily Advertiser in January that it was ideal for the large-format stores the group had planned. 

“It’s an exciting opportunity for the Wagga community,” Mr Di Pilla said. “As soon as we receive development approval we’ll be looking to commence repurposing work soon afterwards.”

Up to 200 jobs were expected to come along with 10 new retail stores when the site finally opened.