A new Banchory retail park could bring popular names including M&S and Lidl to the Deeside town.
The venture is proposed for an unused field at the Hill of Banchory, just behind the town's Tesco.
The new development would also bring discount chain Home Bargains to the area.
A huge new garden centre has been earmarked for the site too, but an operator is yet to be secured.
And a drive-thru Starbucks coffee shop would be built in the car park, along with charging facilities for 20 electric vehicles.
The Press and Journal says the scheme has been lodged by Banchory Estates, which says talks with each of the named occupiers for the units are "progressing well".
Proposals
Under the proposals, the Lidl and M&S Food store would share one building, with the Home Bargains and garden centre in another.
On the developers' behalf, Ireland Design Architects has stressed the potential benefits.
It says it would represent "productive use" of a vacant site, create "new jobs for local people" and encourage further regeneration of the town.
Ireland Design Architects adds that the retail park would reduce the number of people leaving Banchory to do their shopping, with the nearest Lidl shop 20 miles away in Aberdeen. The German retail giant revealed in 2021 that it was interested in opening several new north-east branches.
The nearest Starbucks is about 14 miles away in Westhill, which is also the location of an M&S Food store.