Perplexing news to wake up to this morning with Swedish fast fashion house H&M announcing it will open stores in Wollongong and Toowoomba by the end of the year.
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Without wanting to sound too Shannon Noll-esque – what about us?
The rumour mill went into overdrive late last year when Canberra Centre closed down a large area for refurbishment that the giant red logo could be making an appearance here.
But the wing, that formerly housed Lincraft and other stores, still sits empty and all but gutted, with no word yet as to what's going inside.
Since H&M arrived in Australian two years ago, it has opened 10 stores nationally in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Perth, with more Sydney stores and even a Newcastle store also on the way.
Now the retail giant is venturing out of the capital cities.
But not only have they missed a capital city - they've missed THE capital city.
As a Queenslander, I would never want to say anything disparaging about my own kind on State of Origin Day. But Toowoomba? With a population of only 165,000, the town is most well-known for its annual flower festival.
It's the second most populous inland city in the country, behind none other than Canberra.
Wollongong at least has nearly double the population of Toowoomba, with almost 300,000 people.
But at over 380,000 people and the highest average weekly earnings in the country, surely we get a look in?
One could say we've already proven our worthiness.
Zara deemed us worthy.
Costco deemed us worthy.
Singapore Airlines deemed us worthy.
And we already have the Scandinavian tick of approval. Fellow Swede IKEA, which is renowned for its meticulous research into a venue before opening a new store, deemed us worthy.
While Canberra Centre remains vacant, we'll still hold out hope.
And in the mean time, at least the Wollongong store will cut 40 minutes or so off a road trip to an H&M.
H&M was contacted for comment.
