David Jones shuts Eastland store from January next year

One of Australia’s biggest department stores, David Jones, is closing its doors indefinitely at Eastland Shopping Centre in January.

David Jones will shut down its store in Melbourne’s east on January 14.

One of Australia’s biggest department stores is closing its doors indefinitely at Eastland Shopping Centre.

David Jones will shut down its store in Melbourne’s east on January 14.

A spokesperson said they are prioritising their flagship stores and “right-sizing” – restructuring their business model tomake a profit more efficiently.

“Our strategy has been shared widely with our team members and customers, and we will continue to provide updates as we evolve and grow our business,” they said.

“With a long lead time on this closure, we focused on prioritising transitional support for our team members and exploring redeployment opportunities.

“We look forward to welcoming our Eastland customers online and to our other nearby store locations.” 

A David Jones spokesperson said the business has made the decision to prioritise their flagship stores.

Eastland general manager Greg Balmforth said the store’s departure provides the centre with the “valuable opportunity to reconfigure and enhance (their) retail mix in line with (their) long-term masterplan”.

“Eastland and David Jones have enjoyed a close relationship over many years, and their departure follows a period of close and co-ordinated strategic planning,” Mr Balmforth said.

“While it’s still too early to provide specific details, our proposed plans represent an exciting step forward in the evolution of Eastland and follow a series of strategic investments to extend our mixed-use offer, such as our highly successful athleisure precinct, new Sephora store opening and the Department of Transport building.

“We look forward to sharing exciting announcements in the future, as we finalise our plans and reach key milestones.”

It comes as the up-market department store, which first opened in Australia 185 years ago, recorded a disappointing double-digit downturn in sales revenue earlier this year.

In June, sales at David Jones Eastland plummeted by 38 per cent, while sales at Highpoint shopping centre also dropped by 19 per cent.

David Jones was sold to Anchorage Capitol Partners for $100m in March, after it was previously sold for $2.1b to former owners Woolworths Holding Limited in 2014.

The deal did not include the iconic Bourke St store which has an estimated worth of $250m.

David Jones currently owns 42 department stores across Australia and employs about 7,500 people.