Coles has long featured as a key tenant in the centre, but many others have come and gone over the years.

The centre was purchased by Sentinel Property Group (SPG) in May 2015 for $18.95 million as part of a three centre deal, and since then the owners have been working on filling the partially-vacant site.

The other centres purchased were at Wellington ($2.7 million) and Narromine ($3.35 million).

SPG managing director Warren Ebert and digital marketing officer Michael Sherlock were in Bathurst on Wednesday to speak to the centre’s tenants to gain feedback on what improvements they thought were needed.

“We like to speak to the tenants and take photos and find out what the problems are,” he said of his six-monthly regional tour to SPG owned centres.

Mr Ebert said SPG knew Bathurst Chase “had problems” when it was purchased, but said it had a lot of potential.

“There’s not as many tenants as we’d like,” he said.

“We’ve got to get it clean, get new tenants and hopefully in 12 months we’ll get that sorted.”

Mr Ebert said SPG are “speaking to a few big tenants” about a possible move into the centre, however he declined to name them.

When asked if this week’s move by JB Hi-Fi into the Bathurst City Centre, or the full compliment of retailers in Stockland Bathurst was a concern, he said Bathurst Chase was a very different centre.

“Medical and personal service is what we’re looking at, it’s not a fashion centre,” Mr Ebert said.

“A lot of people want to get in and out for groceries. This is really a convenience centre.”

A Bathurst City Centre spokeswoman said she was thrilled to welcome JB Hi-Fi into the centre this week and said it will be a “real drawcard” for customers to the site.

“Annually, more than two million shoppers visit Bathurst City Centre and we are confident that the opening of JB Hi-Fi will drive strong foot traffic and sales,” she said.

On Wednesday, Mr Ebert and Mr Sherlock also visited SPG owned shopping centres in Orange, Dubbo and Nowra.

Stockland Bathurst was contacted for a comment but did not provide a response before deadline.