Highlighting that "we can't afford to be complacent", Andrew McDonald reported of some better signs and a return to "some sort of normality" in key areas.

While there had been "a large number of retailers" request rent relief in the early days of the pandemic and "a lot of owners" had been forthcoming, shops had reopened by the end of May and into the start of June, he said.

In the past month or so, all of them were back paying full rent, the long-time realtor specialising in commercial property said.

"So from that point of view, things are much better now, and back to some sort of normality, or normality in terms of shops are open and rent is being paid," he said.

"But we're not being complacent or silly about it and we're very mindful a lot of retailers are still finding it difficult and they're not back to where they used to be and there's still a lot of uncertainty and a lack of confidence there.

"But in general... and this is not nationwide, but here in Dubbo, and I'm hearing it from a lot of regional areas, we don't seem to be impacted nearly as brutally as they are in your larger capital cities."

Mr McDonald reported of hearing of a "mixed bag in terms of sales", which even included cases of "some excellent turnover figures" but acknowledged the future was not certain.

"Whether that's going to be sustained, or whether that's popped up as a result of the JobKeeper allowance continuing on, only time will tell, because there's going to be some changes in regard to that in the coming months so it remains to be seen what impact that all has," he said.

He reported that one recent vacancy in Macquarie Street was the shopfront occupied by national chain Suzanne Grae, with the retailer's lease having ended at the end of August.

Mr McDonald's agency has started marketing the premises.

He said he was not sure why Suzanne Grae would have made the decision to close both its Macquarie Street and Orana Mall shops.

"We thought the store was a reasonably strong one for them, but we're not to know what they're deciding at head office level," he said.

"...So we're seeing some of the other national chains seem to be trading strongly here in Dubbo but for whatever reason, Suzanne Grae have elected to close a couple of shops here in Dubbo," he said.

"As for other vacancies on the strip, touch wood, there hasn't been a spate of them, so businesses are battling on."

The Daily Liberal has contacted Suzanne Grae on numerous occasions for more than the past week, seeking contact with the media/ public relations department, but has not received any response.