Is this the end of David Jones? | The Business | ABC NEWS

Australian retailer David Jones has been placed in administration. The 188-year-old department store's collapse comes after negotiations with key landlord Westfield broke down. The department store's chief executive addressed staff this morning at the company's Melbourne headquarters. The retailer is behind on rental payments, and its collapse will leave staff and suppliers, such as fashion brands, in the dark. It is expected to rationalise store numbers, with it currently having 38 sites in Australia. McGrath Nicol has been appointed as the voluntary administrator. Separately Hilco, which is one of its lenders, has appointed Christopher Hill, David McGrath and Joanne Dunn of FTI Consulting as joint and several receivers and managers to protect its loans. Receiver Christopher Hill said the retail trading environment, rising costs, a significant and outdated retail footprint, and supply chain challenges all led to this point. Mr McGrath also said, "It is likely there will be steps to reduce the retail footprint in the near-term," and once decisions were made, staff and unions would be consulted. He confirmed that staff would continue to be paid normally but said the receivers were reviewing unpaid entitlements owed to staff. Analytics firm MST Marquee has looked at the company's holdings and expects 22 store closures in Australia, many in Westfield locations, and one in New Zealand. The union that represents retail workers, the Shop, Distributive and Allied (SDA) Employees Association, said its immediate focus was on keeping as many people in jobs as possible. A spokesperson from David Jones lender Hilco Capital said, "we will continue to support the David Jones business to keep trading while it is recapitalised and new owners are found." Andrew McKellar, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said, "there is no doubt, department stores models have been under pressure now for some years." Meanwhile, customers have rushed to spend gift cards as consumer advocates warn they'll be at the back of the line of people trying to get their money back. #ABCBusiness Subscribe: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-0... Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated. #ABCNEWS #ABCNEWSAustralia