Corporate affairs manager for Myer Grace Bros John Gillman said the company was continuing to assess its remaining stores following the announcement the company was closing Tamworth and Nowra Grace Bros.

Mr Gillman said he would make no further comment on Bathurst, declining to discuss the lease details of the store, or its future.

In a press release posted on the Australian Stock Exchange Myer Grace announced the closure of the Tamworth and Nowra stores as part of the `biggest stores overhaul in many years'.

Both stores were said to be at the end of their leases and were considered too small to be sustainable as Myer Grace Bros department stores into the future.

The last time the company closed stores in the Central West was in the early 1990s when it shut shops in Parkes, Forbes and Cowra.

The press release said the decision to close the Tamworth and Nowra stores was made after `careful consideration of their age, size and the amount of capital needed for substantial structural upgrades'.

The statement said it was determined they would be unable to provide the growth potential needed to make them viable in the long term.

Bathurst City Centre manager Alistair Robinson was yesterday unable to comment on the future of Bathurst Grace Bros.

Full story in the Western Advocate.