Big W was officially reopened at 8am following a smoking ceremony by Uncle Gilbert and some short speeches from those that have worked tirelessly to be the first shop in Lismore Square and to provide some positivity for our community.

Early shoppers, staff and tradespeople were present as Uncle Gilbert performed a blessing on the Big W store through the medicine leaves he put onto the smoking dish.

"I am going to heal your big building here," Uncle Gilbert said, "The reason we do the smoking ceremony is to bless our old people, our ancestors and it's also to get rid of the badness we do not want and bring in all the goodness. That's what is going to happen when the smoke travels through your workplace, you don't want no bad energy in there no more."

Big W has played a substantial supportive role with the Koori Mail which was acknowledged by General Manager Naomi Moran.

"I'd like to thank the immense work that the Big W team has not only done to open up here today to put a bit of life back into the Lismore town as a retailer but also the amazing support they've provided to the Koori Mail hub, which has been providing really necessary support for a lot of people that have been displaced by the floods and been affected by this tragedy. We certainly couldn't have survived the last 16 weeks providing flood support relief without Big W."

There was some emotion shown as Store Manager Jess Costello went through her list of thank you's to a group of people that made opening Big W today possible, especially Dean Richardson Area Operations Manager Big W. "Thank you for taking my community on as your own. Thank you for your passion, your drive and for being here every single day," and Rachel Horan (Jess' second in charge) who provided "Her strength, her resilience, her caring, her heart, everything about this girl, she's been amazing."

Dean told the story about Jess asking to go in on the Sunday of the February flood to lift things up. Like so many local businesses, whether they are a small cafe, a medium-sized homeware shop or a major national retail store, staff were still thinking of saving what they could above the previous record 12.17 metres from 1954 and '74.

(Widjabul Artist Sheldon Harrington under his artwork on the left as you enter Big W with Uncle Albert)

As has been mentioned on the Lismore App Facebook page when we announced the opening of Big W today, a lot of comments were about not having to drive to Ballina to go shopping, and saving money on petrol. This was the case for Maree Harris, Emma Harris and her daughter Elke, one of the first shoppers to enter the store to check out the toy sale.

"We just missed being able to come down and walk around," Maree said, "We were going to Ballina or Casino but now we can come down to the Square."

(Emma and Elke Harris with Maree Harris at the opening of Big W)

Big W is open until 7 o'clock tonight.

The official opening of Lismore Square is still scheduled for Wednesday, July 6, before then Woolworths will open. The Lismore App understands there will be between 20 and 24 specialty shops opening on the day with no detail as to which shops will be open apart from Spendless.