A story about our booming retail industry was flooded with comments on the Daily Liberal Facebook page. But there was one store that appeared far more than the rest: Kmart.

Residents have been calling for Wesfarmers to open a Kmart store in Dubbo for years. The company also owns businesses such as Coles, Liquorland, Bunnings, Target and Officeworks.

About 130 residents commented they would like to see the store open its doors here.

The next biggest call was for Harris Farm Market to come to Dubbo. Harris Farm is open in 22 locations across NSW, including Bathurst and Orange.

Food stores were high on the list of wants. There were pleas for Krispy Kreme, The Cheesecake Shop, Cold Rock, Baskin-Robbins, Ben and Jerry’s, Noodle Box and Messina Gelato all to branch into the city.

Swedish furniture company IKEA and giant Costco were both high on the shopping wish list.

The people of Dubbo have to travel to either Canberra or Sydney for the closest IKEA and Costco stores. 

Chemist Warehouse was also a popular choice.

The top five stores people called for in order of popularity were: Kmart, Harris Farm Market, IKEA, Costco, and Krispy Kreme.

In the past two months 13 development applications have been approved by Dubbo Regional Council for retail buildings. The developments are worth an estimated $5.37 million.

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields said there were national chains that had their sights on Dubbo.

Clothing company RB Sellars has announced it will be settling in Dubbo permanently after a recent pop up store.

The business will open in early November in Macquarie Street. 

RB Sellars managing director Richard Sellars said: “in the future we plan to broaden our range and open more retail stores to better support rural customers, and where we can, continue to support the community.”.

The Dubbo store will be the fourth in NSW.

While Dubbo has a population of 42,000, Cr Shields said it serviced more than 130,000 people from the region. The mayor said he was happy with the direction the retail industry in Dubbo was moving.