Furniture and homewares retailer Early Settler opened at the Homemaker Centre on Friday and the new Bonds store in Liebig Street opened on Wednesday. 

The new shops have created employment for two full-time and five casual workers at Bonds and two full-time and six casual staff at Early Settler.

Bonds state manager Mia Reilly said they had a great response on their opening day. “There’s been a lot of customers who’ve said they visit our Melbourne store and they're happy we’re here," Miss Reilly said. 

The retail store sells its full range including babies’, children’s, tweens’, men’s and women’s clothing and underwear.

“Generally in regional stores we’ve been more inclined to open outlets but we saw a market here to give the customer the full Bonds experience of what they would get in the CBD so that’s really exciting,” Miss Reilly said.

She said postcode data and online figures demonstrated the number of south-west customers who already shopped at Bonds stores.

“The response has been really positive with shoppers saying they don’t have to go to Melbourne anymore. They do shop online also and I think it’s nice for them to have that touch and feel experience in store.” 

Early Settler manager Tracey Thomas said people from across the south-west had flocked to check out the new store.

“We were absolutely flat out over the weekend,” Ms Thomas said. “I think we’ve seen about three quarters of Warrnambool so far. It’s a beautiful place to be.” 

She said the store’s mid-range price points met a gap in the Warrnambool furniture market. “There’s a lot of young home builders and first-home buyers in town and the range suits a lot of period homes. We’ve got a bit of everything. We’ve got the more modern to replica furniture as well.” 

Warrnambool customer Natasha Gibson visited both stores on Wednesday and said it was great to have more choice. “I think you don’t have to travel as much,” Mrs Gibson said. “When things are local people are going to shop local. With a shop like this you don’t have to travel, which is what I like. I don’t have to go anywhere it’s at my front door.”