The clock appears to be running down on one of the nation’s most renowned department store chains just before the all-important holiday season arrives.
David Jones’ private equity owner is in advanced talks with its landlords about possibly closing more than half of its stores amid mounting losses, the Australian Financial Review reports.
Anchorage Capital Partners didn’t immediately return a message to AAP seeking comment.
David Jones has not yet filed its 2025/26 financial accounts, missing a deadline at the end of October, a spokesman for Australian Securities and Investments Commission told AAP late on Tuesday.
The retailer posted a $95.5 million loss in 2024/2025, up from $74 million in 2023/24.
David Jones said the 188-year-old chain was continuing to operate all of its 38 stores across Australia and New Zealand.
“The company does not comment on speculation regarding potential store closures,” a company spokesperson said.
Australian Retail Council chief executive Chris Rodwell said David Jones was one of the nation’s oldest and most celebrated brands.
“It has served generations of Australians and holds a special place in our retail history,” he said.
The pressures facing Australian retailers were not new and the council had been sounding the alarm about them for some time.
“Business costs keep rising, whether related to leases, transport, supply chains, energy, wages, or government taxes, charges and regulations,” Mr Rodwell said, calling on governments to support businesses by bringing down costs and cutting unnecessary red tape.
South Africa-based Woolworths Holdings sold David Jones to Sydney-based Anchorage Capital Partners in 2023 for about $100 million after buying the upmarket retailer nine years earlier for $2.1 billion.
Like many retailers, the upper-mid-range department chain has struggled to stay relevant in the era of online shopping, fast fashion and ultra-cheap overseas imports.
Macquarie University consumer psychology and marketing research professor Jana Bowden posted on social media on Tuesday that she had been at a David Jones location the day before and found it empty.
She walked through the store in Sydney’s northern suburb of Hornsby and couldn’t find a single customer “in any Department, on any level,” backing up her words with pictures and video.
David Jones had about 6,730 employees as of March, according to workplace data platform Revelio Labs.
Its first store was opened in Sydney’s city centre in 1838 by Welsh-born merchant David Jones, making it the world’s oldest continually operating department store still trading under its original name.
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