Coronavirus: David Jones’ small store closures push retail job losses to 100,000

David Jones’ owner has decided to close its Country Road Group small-format stores that will see 5000 staff stood down.

David Jones’s announcement takes the total jobs lost in the retail, hospitality and entertainment sectors this month in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to more than 100,000.

South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings, which owns DJs and Country Road Group has chosen to close its stable of small-format fashion stores – Country Road, Mimco, Witchery, Trenery and Politix – that will see 5000 staff stood down, sending the total jobs lost in the retail, hospitality and entertainment sectors this month in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to more than 100,000.

The Country Road portfolio of 280 stores will remain closed for four weeks.

However, the David Jones up-market, large-format department stores will remain open, for now, as all around it retailers shut and send tens of thousands of staff home with national retailer believing it can meet strict government guidelines over social interaction to maintain the safety of its staff and shoppers.

Late on Friday Myer pulled the trigger and decided it would close down its stores this weekend, marking one of the single biggest loss of jobs in the retail sector since the coronavirus crisis began with 9000 of its staff now stuck at home on no pay.

A David Jones spokesman told The Weekend Australian has decided for health and safety reasons, and to fit with government requirements over the number of people allowed within an enclosed space, it has chosen to close down its smaller DJs department stores at Sydney’s Barangaroo and James Street in Brisbane, but the retailer’s flagship of 46 large-format department stores will stay open for business.

It makes David Jones a stand out in the retail sector which for the last week has seen national fashion and apparel chains such as arch rival Myer, Premier Retail, Michael Hill, Lovisa, Mosaic Brands and Accent footwear group close and threaten the livelihoods of around 50,000 retail workers who now face an uncertain future and no wages. They have been joined at home or in long lines at Centrelink offices by almost 30,000 workers from the airlines and 20,000 casino staff.

But retailers have been particularly hard hit, and while David Jones keeps its main department stores open it means for now its 9000 employees have a job and a wage.

But the 5000 workers at David Jones’ Country Road Group spread across 280 stores, have been less fortunate and because many of those stores are small, making social distancing impossible, it was deemed unsafe to keep them open.

Scott Fyfe, Country Road Group chief executive said that with the continuing evolution of the COVID-19 situation, the retailer believed the time is right to suspend trading across all Country Road Group stores until further notice.

“This closure will extend for at least four weeks from end of trade today. We will continue to welcome customers to the online stores of each of our brands throughout this time.

“At Country Road Group, the health and safety of our team members, customers and the community will always be our first priority. We have actively followed all government advice in response to COVID-19, as well as introduced increased health and hygiene measures in all our stores, but the COVID-19 situation is not improving and due to the small format of many of our retail stores and our commitment to strictly following the social distancing protocols in place, we will suspend trade until the current crisis improves.

“We regret that the closure of our stores means that our retail team will be stood down during this period. We understand that this will put many of our team members under financial pressure and will provide all support possible to our impacted team members, including working in partnership with other Australian businesses who are offering employment opportunities at this time.”

David Jones will keep its larger department stores open for as long as possible.

“David Jones continues to monitor the coronavirus situation extremely closely. Our foremost priority is ensuring the health and safety of our team, customers and the wider community as this situation continues to impact the welfare of us all,’’ a David Jones spokesman told The Weekend Australian.

“Health and safety will always be our primary focus, but we are also focused on supporting the livelihoods of our teams and their families for every day possible. Given this we have made the decision to continue to keep our large format physical stores open as long as we are confident that we can operate our stores safely and to the standards required by all current government health and safety directives.

“The strict implementation of social distancing protocols has become a dominant feature of our stores which are large format, well-spaced and cashless, and therefore enable social distancing to be properly observed and promoted, and for enhanced hygiene standards to be implemented.” The David Jones online business will remain available throughout this period and the department store has seen a significant increase in our customers using this service.