That's exactly what happened however, when the recently returned Wagga local walked into the site now known as The Curious Rabbit in early 2020.

Now a thriving local hub of arts, books, coffee and food, when Vickie picked up the keys in May 2020 in the middle of tight COVID restrictions for both hospitality and the arts, she wondered if she had made a terrible mistake.

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"It was a huge gamble," the business consultant and owner admitted. "There was a lot of thinking 'what the hell am I doing?'"

The initial sale proceedings began before the crisis hit Australian shores, and the mum of two was told she had the option to withdraw, but decided to stick with it.

"I think because when COVID happened the hardest people hit were artists, that actually gave me more motivation to make a success of the space," Ms Burkinshaw said.

"It was also my first experience in hospitality, I had to learn coffee on Zoom!"

For Vickie, buying the venue was important.

For her, it was about creating space for Wagga residents who may have found themselves on the sidelines in the past.

"I knew Wagga needed a good place for people to congregate and meet up, another gallery, things I didn't have growing up," she said.

She said she was also motivated to expose the mountains of talent hiding in Wagga.

"There is so much amazing talent in this town that we just haven't tapped into yet - artists, performers, writers, that whole community, it's extraordinary," she said.

"And yet we don't celebrate it, we hide it in a corner so I was thinking I need to bring it out into a space."

And it seems Wagga has enthusiastically responded.

So far hub has hosted the Conservatorium's end of year concert, a music festival and in the coming weeks they will hold events for Fitz Fest.

"The audiences in Wagga have been underestimated in terms of their appetite for local artists," she said.

"In our experience, they absolutely love it."

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