The trees are up and jingles are blasting at Macquarie Park David Jones, but it will be a blue Christmas this year, with the store set to close after the holiday season.
What happened: Australian department store chain David Jones is closing 19 of its 38 stores. Among these are the Macquarie Park, Hornsby and Warringah Mall locations. The company entered into voluntary administration last Thursday.
What is that: When a company enters voluntary administration, an independent administrator (in this case, FTI Consulting) takes over the business from its directors and investigates whether it can be saved, sold or should simply be wound up.
About a week after David Jones entered into administration, the announcement came that it would close 19 of its stores. Now, the Chatswood Chase outlet will be the only remaining North Shore outlet.
Local reactions: A David Jones Macquarie Park employee told the Lorikeet they were “a bit surprised” by the news the location would be closed given it was one of the larger stores, however the larger shutdown of the business didn’t surprise them.
“There is a little bit of worry [among staff], people are going to be rendered jobless … for the people who are part time and managers, that would be a bit scary,” they said.
Other shoppers weren’t shocked to hear the news either. Alex, speaking to the Lorikeet next to a rack of men’s shirts, said that better prices and ease of access had driven him toward online shopping.
“We’re very time poor … we just go online for convenience of returns and refunds”. He said he wasn’t a frequenter of David Jones, and had come in to see if there were any closing down deals to snap up.
Tali, a local mum shopping with one of her three boys, said that while she liked to shop online, having a place to come in and try clothes on was important to her. “It’s devastating”, she said.
Sue, an older customer, told the Lorikeet she comes to David Jones several times a year for the quality customer service. “I like how I’m treated here”, she said, claiming other department stores were “always shabby”.
She recalled the first time she visited a David Jones, growing up in a rural town near Wagga Wagga. “Once or twice a year we went there… I remember walking behind my mum in my patent leather shoes. It was a dress up occasion”.