There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the city's retail industry as a national brand has chosen to fill a void in Baylis Street's shopping strip.
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Almost a year after Factorie closed up shop, national retailer Sheridan, premium homewares, will takeover the vacant shopfront located on 108 Baylis St.
Geoff Seymour at Fitzpatricks Commercial said this was a positive sign for trading in the city.
"Following from a number of national retail corporate collapses that impacted on a number of key locations in Wagga, it is pleasing to see that a reputable firm in Sheridan has now decided to enter the retail strip," Mr Seymour said.
"Following a number of major national retailers collapsing that were trading very well in Wagga suffer as a result of corporate mismanagement through expansion and purchasing errors.
"This resulted in cash flow issues that simply did not represent the state of retailing in our city."
Mr Seymour said Sheridan will be a very strong trader for the city and the region.
"Retailing, like all businesses, can have cycles of challenging times and good management covers these cycles," he said.
The Daily Advertiser contacted Sheridan multiple times via email and phone, but they did not respond to requests.
Business broker Peter Campbell said national stores entering the local market have a positive flow-on effect to other businesses and the local economy.
"When you get national traders in these regional areas, it stops people going to other places like Canberra," he said.
"They keep people in the city rather than travelling to other places; for example, who would travel further than Bunnings for hardware needs?
"On one hand it provides more competition, but on the other hand it attracts people to the town and also creates jobs."
Mr Campbell said across the country the June quarter has been slow but things are finally looking up.
"I've talked to a few accountants recently in Albury and May and June were reasonably slow moths across a range of industries," he said.
"I don't think mismanagement is an issue, the election is always bad for business as it provides uncertainty and also the end of the financial year impacted as well.
"Car sales have been down about 20 per cent as people pull back a little bit."
However, it seems July sales have already picked up and Mr Campbell said new developments will encourage more people to stay in the city.
"In Wagga, we've got three new accommodation hotels either proposed or under construction and these will provide competition, but it will make the town more of a centre to stay in," he said.
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Wagga Business Chamber president Danielle Pascoe said there are a number of reasons impacting the viability of trading.
"I think it's really trick to pinpoint one factor ... the drought we're experiencing is impacting on trade in retail amongst other industries and certainly there's corporate challenges," she said.
"I think Toys 'R' Us is an example where the Wagga store was performing well but the shop was caught up in the storm of macro decisions rather than being impacted by local forces."
Mrs Pascoe said the chamber encourages any investment in Wagga and it is great to see a large retailer choosing to do business in the city.
"It's a good opportunity to provide another option to the market and customers as Sheridan has not existed here previously," she said.
"Having shops filled is great and businesses would benefit from the increased foot traffic that we would hope to see with a large business and also adds to the vibrancy of the CBD."