Retail head says David Jones brands carve-up ‘logical’ as the store announces closure in New Zealand

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A retail boss says embattled David Jones “lost its magic” when it moved away from a traditional department store layout into a modern store-in-store model. David Jones is set to…

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson says closure of NZ's David Jones store "sad" but logical.

A retail boss says embattled David Jones “lost its magic” when it moved away from a traditional department store layout into a modern store-in-store model.

David Jones is set to close its only New Zealand store, based in Newmarket, by the end of this year.

The store was placed into voluntary administration and receivership last week after a breakdown in discussions between the company and landlords.

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson described the closure as “sad” on Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.

“It was such an institution for so many people including for New Zealanders and was a first-stop shop across [the] ditch.”

The 188-year-old business employs more than 6000 staff across its 38 stores in Australia and New Zealand and has been at Newmarket since 2019.

Wilkinson said he believed the issues lay partially with the store layout.

“The big problem is it pulled away from having individual departments ... when it moved to a store-in-store model it lost its magic because it was no different to what you’d find elsewhere.”

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