With any sort of luck and some door-knocking by Orange council and anyone else interested in having an up-market department store here, there’s an opportunity to land British retailer Debenhams.

The second biggest chain in the UK and with 243 stores across 28 countries, Debenhams has partnered with Harris Scarfe for an Australian assault, opening stores within Harris Scarfe outlets.

And what is Orange getting when the present Myer building gets its $6.8 million redevelopment? Harris Scarfe.

Debenhams wants to open smaller format stores in Australia, offering an exclusive selection of its designer fashion labels and will begin the push with its first major department store in the heart of Collins Street in Melbourne next year.

There’ll also be an Orange opportunity for top brands like Cue, Esprit, Country Road, Jag and Guess to open their own outlets in the new City Centre building after Myer walks away.

Cue, for one, is operated independently of Myer and has its own staff, no doubt just paying Myer rent for the space. The others are probably doing the same.

So if Orange people want to retain these sorts of designer brands when Myer goes, let’s hope someone takes up the challenge and chases them.

Orange has had a long and favourable love affair with banks ever since John Busby opened a branch of the Union Bank in 1858 when there were only nine shops in the village. Other banks soon followed and played a major role in our development with local branches at the centre of commercial life as a valued part of the community.

But not any longer. Personal service by tellers has bitten the dust and big banks are shuffling customers outside to do their banking on ATMs as these greedy cash cows treat us like some sort of second-class citizens.

So what’s the answer? Don’t get mad, get even. The best idea is to hit ‘em in the hip pocket, so to speak, and stash your loot at home where it’s available whenever you want it, although you won’t get any interest but banks give you bugger-all now so what’s the difference.

 Anyhow, here’s some flippant ways you can hide your hard-earned dosh. One is to drill a hole in the top of an inside door and put your cash in there or you can put it in an envelope and tape it to the bottom of a dresser drawer.

Money doesn't have to be folded or stacked, either. It can be rolled into bike tyres, curtain rods, hollow table legs or anything round.

A plastic bag in the freezer is another sneaky place, in an old sock with all your other socks or bury it in a jar in the backyard. (Just don’t forget where you buried it.) Buy a can of tennis balls, cut a hole in one, stuff your cash inside and put it back near the can’s bottom. Of course there’s always the old chestnut of storing your savings under the mattress.

So if you don’t want the banks to tread all over you, hide your money at home and you won’t have to worry about using those robot machines.

A duck is about to cross the road, and a chicken runs up to him and says: "Don't do it mate, you'll never hear the end of it".