Australia’s oldest department store chain, David Jones, has been placed into voluntary administration.
It will continue operating while receivers view the operations and decide next steps.
DJs, was established in 1838 in central Sydney by Welsh merchant David Jones, and describes itself as the world’s oldest continuously operating department store.
The administration move followed months of speculation on the retainer’s future off the back of rising costs, sluggish retail sales and supply chain pressures.
David Jones stores will continue to operate under the control of FTI Consulting, the appointed receivers, while the firm reviews current operations.
McGrathNicol has been appointed as voluntary administrators.
“A transaction process seeking offers for a recapitalisation of the business or a sale as a going concern will commence immediately, and will be managed by McGrathNicol,” FTI Consulting and McGrathNicol said in a joint statement.
“We will manage this process carefully, mindful of the impact on some stakeholders but also recognising the need for difficult decisions.”
With about 6000 employees across 38 stores in Australia and New Zealand, David Jones is one of Australia’s most recognisable brands and predates London’s Harrods by more than a decade.
For generations, Australian shoppers have turned to David Jones for clothing and accessories for milestone occasions, from formal wear to school and graduation attire.
However, like overseas counterparts, the retailer has struggled for more than a decade as the rise of online shopping and competition from fast-fashion chains have steadily eroded its traditional department store business model.
Its latest owner was private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners, which bought it from South African retailer Woolworths in 2022 for a price media reported at the time was about $100 million.
David Jones CEO Erica Berchtold said the retailer had “a well-developed plan on how to reset the business for the future.”
She said the company would work with the administrators, receivers and its secured lender during the voluntary administration process, Australia’s closest equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Scentre Group SCG.AX, which owns and operates Westfield shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand, offered a lifeline to David Jones, but it was rejected by Anchorage Capital, ABC News reported, citing Scentre CEO Elliott Rusanow.
David Jones has stores at 17 Westfield locations.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday, Scentre said David Jones had paid rent up to September 30, 2026.
Earlier this year, Macquarie University Associate Professor Dr Matthew Bailey said major department stores had been in a constant battle for survival since the 1970s.
He said the big stores first encountered trouble when their relationship-service model disappeared and was replaced by a focus on financial efficiency.
“For decades, Australia’s biggest department stores sold service, style and experience, but the model was built on something far less sustainable, and businesses can no longer paper over the cracks,” Dr Bailey said.
Dr Bailey said at the time that department stores were unlikely to vanish completely, but they were no longer the social and economic anchors they once were.
“They’ll probably be around for a while,” Dr Bailey said. “But we can see them shrinking in store numbers and floor space.”
Renju Jose, Reuters/Extra reporting by Newsreel
