Country Road Group brands including Mimco and Witchery return to Myer in new concession deal
Just weeks after the sale of David Jones to Anchorage Capital, the department store’s former owner Woolworths Holdings has moved its other brands back into stores owned by rival retailer Myer.
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Just weeks after the sale of David Jones to Anchorage Capital, the department store’s former owner Woolworths Holdings has moved its other brands back into stores owned by rival retailer Myer.
Country Road Group – owned by the South African company – will bring labels including Country Road, Mimco, Trenery, Politix and Witchery to the retailer after five years, prompting DJs to scale down the space it gives the brands at its department stores.
The decision to remove Country Road Group from Myer stores at the time left the retailer with a significant gap in its men’s and women’s fashion offering – a crucial battleground for department stores – but deprived Woolworths of a key revenue stream as its concessions shut in 2018 and 2019.
It was also part of a wider fashion war fought over the last decade as David Jones and Myer sought to poach exclusive brands from each other to make their own stores the only ones to offering popular labels.
The decision to re-enter Myer should boost revenue for Country Road Group. The latest accounts for the company show it suffered a 52 per cent slump in full-year net profit to $43.24m in 2022 with revenue flat at $1.08bn.
It is unclear if Woolworths Holdings discussed its plans to return Country Road to Myer with Anchorage during discussions.
Further complicating the rapprochement between Country Road Group and Myer is that David Jones boss Scott Fyfe – who will stay on to run the company for Anchorage – had previously spent three years as the boss of Country Road Group.
But David Jones now says it will cut the space allotted to Country Road Group as it highlighted other must-have fashion brands that had decided to move into its stores. “In the past two years alone we’re proud to have added over 200 new brands to our portfolio … which will continue throughout 2023,” a spokesman for David Jones said.
“While we increase the weighting of the brands that are newer to our portfolio, the space for some Country Road Group brands will be reduced.
“The Country Road Group will remain an important part of David Jones’ product range … and alongside our focus on delivering new and relevant premium fashion brands, will allow us to continue to provide our customers with the brands they love.”
Witchery, Politix and Mimco will launch at Myer next month, followed by Country Road – including Country Road Kids and Country Road Home – and Trenery from July. Witchery, Trenery, Country Road home and kids will be sold for the first time in Myer under the new and expanded concessions relationship.
“Today’s announcement is a clear demonstration of Myer’s attractive retail proposition and reputation of fostering strong, strategic and tailored commercial outcomes that benefit our partners and customers,” said Myer chief executive John King.
“This new partnership reconfirms Myer’s position as Australia’s leading retail partner with the national reach of our store network, significantly expanded online offer and our leading Myer one loyalty program.”
Country Road Group chief executive Raju Vuppalapati said the partnership with Myer provided an opportunity for his brands to showcase great products to its core customer.
Under the new and expanded offer within Myer, Witchery will be a new addition across 16 stores from February with plans for a further rollout from July.
Country Road will return to Myer, with plans to launch in 17 stores from July, with a further rollout in 2024, and with kids and home being added for the first time across key stores.
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Originally published as Country Road Group brands including Mimco and Witchery return to Myer in new concession deal
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