Myer is closing two of its stores in regional New South Wales as it pursues a "sharper" and "more focused" offer, and David Jones is set to move into one of the stores.

The department stores in Wollongong and Orange will close at the end of their respective leases in October and January.

The ABC understands that the two stores employ around 130 people between them - approximately 80 in Wollongong and 50 in Orange.

To coincide with Myer's announcement, David Jones has today announced it will open a "world class" department store in Wollongong by late 2017 in the space left vacant by the Myer store.

David Jones already has a store in the same shopping centre as Myer, and will simply be moving next door after renovating Myer's old store.

Shop and Distributive Allied Employees Union NSW branch secretary Bernie Smith said that still offers some hope to Myer staff that they may find work in an expanded David Jones.

"There's a really great experienced workforce there too when David Jones comes online next year," he said.

However, David Jones has given no commitment to hiring any of the soon to be redundant Myer workers.

'Limited' jobs available in Wollongong

Myer's chief executive Richard Umbers said the company will assist its workers.

"We are committed to supporting all impacted team members, and we will work with them through this process," he said in a statement.

However, Mr Smith said there are limited job opportunities around Wollongong currently.

"The big problem is in the Illawarra itself there is really limited scope, so we would have to be looking back up around Sydney and surrounding areas," he said.

"The scale makes it a bit harder I will admit, when a whole store looks to close, and if people for example could be placed with retailers in the lead up to Christmas, it keeps them active in the retail industry."

Mr Smith also said the announcement came as a shock to staff.

"We've got organisers on site to provide support to staff and of course that's our top priority because members will be feeling quite numb today with the unexpected announcement," he added.

Harris Scarfe to replace Myer in Orange

The owners of the building where Orange's Myer is located, Orange City Centre, have submitted a development application to the town's council for a redevelopment of the site.

The centrepiece of the redevelopment is to be a Harris Scarfe department store.

"Orange is a key component of our strategy in expanding the Harris Scarfe brand into New South Wales," said the department store's chief executive Graham Dean.

The updated centre would also include a significant number of specialty stores.

Myer might close more suburban and regional stores

Mr Umbers said the decision is part of the company's turnaround strategy to "improve productivity" and "deliver a sharper and more focused offer".

"These difficult but important decisions are a necessary step in the delivery of the New Myer strategy, which is designed to return Myer to profitable growth," he explained.

"While decisions to close stores are n ever easy, the process of reshaping our store network to better align with our primary customers is an essential part of the strategy."

The strategy sees Myer focussing first and foremost on its flagship city CBD stores, which have the highest levels of sales and profitability.

With the company still in discussions with several landlords over store leases, it appears likely that these might not be the last Myer store closures in regional and suburban areas.