Hunter's Emporium is a heritage-listed former department store at 86 McDowell Street, Roma, Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia.

[1] The former Hunter's Emporium at Roma, constructed in 1916, is a large, purpose-designed brick department store situated at a principal intersection (the corner of McDowall and Arthur streets) in the commercial heart of the town.

In March 1894 Hunter, in partnership with the manager of the Bank of New South Wales in Roma, Alexander Fairlie Whitehill, acquired title to both the store and the adjacent hotel.

A few months later, on 11 April, a fire destroyed Hunter & Co.'s store, O'Malley's tailor shop and the Queen's Arms Hotel.

[1] Roma prospered during the first three decades of the twentieth century, despite the impact of World War I (1914-1918), and many of its buildings were reconstructed in brick at this period.

[1] Local labour and materials were used wherever possible, and the timber fittings, including shelving and pigeon holes, showcases and glass-topped counters, were crafted by Roma cabinet maker and furniture manufacturer John Crawford.

The new emporium had electric light, a cash railway and everything needed to make it "a thoroughly modern place of business equal to the largest metropolitan establishments".

Every need of customers from the surrounding district was anticipated, the opening sale advertising "General Drapery, Clothing, Boots and Shoes, Linos, Carpets, Furnishings, Grocery, Crockery, Ironmongery and Produce".

As the local press noted, the high capital outlay needed for such an extensive enterprise reflected the proprietors' "unbounded faith in the prospects of the district".

[1][2] JM Hunter was a prominent businessman in the Maranoa district and was actively involved in the public life of his community and in Queensland politics.

After her father's death in 1940 she and her husband took control of Hunter's Ltd, which remained one of western Queensland's principal retail firms well into the second half of the twentieth century.

[1] The external walls to McDowall and Arthur streets are of red face-brick worked with darker bands of brick which also form the decorative quoining defining the door and window openings.

[1] The interior of the ground floor of the store retains fluted timber columns with corbels supporting the beams running the length of the space.

[1] The main staircase to the upper floor is accommodated in the south-east corner and is fitted with square-moulded balusters with a moulded oak handrail.

[1] The purpose-designed silky oak showcases, other purpose-made shop joinery, and the cash railway system, have been removed from the ground floor.

In its size and intactness the place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a large regional department store of the early twentieth century, designed to impress.