Ten years since the supermarket Bi-Lo vaccated the premesis the building is covered in graffiti and stands overgrown -it even has piles of garden waste stacked against the exterior.

"The bottom line is it's an eyesore in the middle of town and something needs to be done to at least clean it up a bit," Michael Barnes said.

"I moved here in November and it just leaves you with the question, why is it like this?"

The site was the subject of a clean up order as recently as 2012 when Port Stephens Council labeled it a safety issue. 

In February of that year the Examiner reported that the owners were in discussions with the council with a view to lodge a development application to redevelop the site.

This was after Port Stephens Council walked away from buying the property and transform it into a community centre in 2009. 

Before that, the owners unsuccessfully tried to sell the site in 2007. 

Mr Barnes, a retired watch maker from the Hawkesbury, was a secretary and president of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce from the 1970s into the 1990s.

"Towns face declines and competition - in this case Coles - and trying to retain businesses and services can be a real challenge," he said.

"Being idle for so long it would be good to see something energise this part of town and utilise what is otherwise a decaying building," he said.

Central ward councillor Steve Tucker remained hopeful the site would one day find a use.

"It's been sitting there for years and years now and you hear all these stories about it but nothing is happening," he said.

"Sitting on comercial land someone could potentially do anything with it. There was even talk of aged care on the site.”

Carseem Pty Ltd, in care of accountants Lambourne Partners at Hamilton, purchased the complex for $3.55 million in 1996.

In 2011 the council valued the property at $1.8 million.

Lambourne Partners declined to comment.