Lawson's highway makeover is almost complete. By year's end two new sets of shops will join the highway strip, where currently the famous Lawson Cake Shop, as well as a hamburger joint, fish and chip shop and a real estate resides.
One of those options being considered by a September opening date is a small wine bar inside an Australian cuisine restaurant.
Other shops looking to set-up before the end of the year include a pizza and kebab shop and a bottle shop. There are also plans for an automatic teller machine. Those working on the projects say in total there is likely to be 17 shops facing the highway and 14 facing Staples Street - 10 shops are expected to be finished by September and a further dozen by December.
Only one cluster of shops facing the highway's new road has been up-and-running since the completion of the town centre in 2010 and the large neighbouring block remains empty.
Lawson Cake Shop's Jenny Lao said they had not lost business during the highway widening, due to roadworkers' healthy appetites, but added "it will be great to have some more neighbours". The empty block between the public school and the existing shops is for sale.
A PRD nationwide spokesman, Brenden Purcell, a retail agent for the project at number 292, said they were "seeking a quality cafe and professional medical services" for sale or lease.
Next door at 297, a Subway restaurant is one of the real options mooted in the Century 21 development.
Mr Purcell said they had "attempted to attract tenancies which facilitate and complement the needs of the community being mindful of the already existing businesses within the village".
"We hope the development will in a sense again provide Lawson shops with a sense of identity."
Another agent in the development, Mid Mountains real estate's Gary Brown, said when the project is finished there "won't be a problem finding tenants".
"Many potential tenants wait until the shops are at lock up and they can see individual shop positions, carparks, window sizes, before making decisions," he said.
"Once the shops are built and rented, activity in the Lawson Township will improve and that in itself will create more demand due to the fact that the shops are easy for travellers to stop. Businesses will gain extra activity, compared to other towns like Hazelbrook, Wentworth Falls and Springwood, where you have to leave the highway."
General consensus on the Gazette Facebook page about the development, pushed for the new shops to include "a butcher, a veggie shop, a deli ... no more real estate and cafes".