Myer chair welcomes back the department store’s once biggest critic Solomon Lew to the board

He’s been gone for 23 years and was a fierce critic but billionaire Solomon Lew is being welcomed back to the Myer board with open arms as the department store told its AGM it’s making strong gains.

Billionaire retailer and major shareholder Solomon Lew “is a big fan” of Myer and will make a welcome contribution to the board when he joins in April, says the department store’s executive chair, Olivia Wirth.

The addition of Mr Lew, who owns a 26.77 per cent stake in Myer, to the board marks his return after a 23-year absence.

Ms Wirth said he would bring a “wealth of knowledge and wisdom” to Myer from his decades of local and global retail experience, and while Mr Lew had been critical of Myer’s performance in the past it was a timely reminder that the chain could always do better.

“We can always do better. We’re very much focused on what this plan is about, we know we can do better and we have to do better for our shareholders; we have to do better for our customers and that’s what the transformation is about,” Ms Wirth told The Australian after the company held its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday.

At the AGM, Ms Wirth updated investors on the retailer’s recent performance, revealing sales for the department stores for the first 19 weeks of fiscal 2026 were up 3.4 per cent while its apparel brands division of Just Jeans, Portmans, Dotti, Jacqui E and Jay Jays posted sales growth of 1.3 per cent for the period.

She said the Myer department store had a strong lead-up to the Black Friday sales this year, achieving its biggest performance for that day on record, driven by its homewares and womenswear categories.

Of Mr Lew’s historical criticisms of the chain, Ms Wirth reinforced that taking on board the issues would improve the company’s performance.

Then Coles Myer director Solomon Lew in 2002 at the Myer store in Bourke Street, Melbourne. Picture Bruce Magilton.

“It is about improving the business, improving the long-term shareholder return, and making sure that customers choose to shop us over everyone else, and that we get a greater share of the consumer wallet in coming years,” she said.

“I think when he (Mr Lew) joins the board in April, it will make a significant contribution. He’s got a wealth of knowledge and wisdom after being an operator, not just in Australia, but globally, from a retail sense.

“So it’ll be a welcome contribution. He’s a big fan of Myer and it will be great to have his contribution around the boardroom table.”

It was 23 years ago that Mr Lew was ejected from the then Coles Myer boardroom after a public and brutal shareholder revolt. He had served as a director and chairman of the former Coles Myer conglomerate.

Last year, Mr Lew’s Premier Investments sold the apparel brands to the department store for more than $860m in Myer scrip, and those shares were then distributed back to Premier shareholders of which Mr Lew is the largest.

When Myer bought the apparel brands it added more than 750 stores to its operations, complementing its 56 Myer department stores.

The deal allowed Mr Lew to accumulate an almost one-third stake in Myer, and Ms Wirth said on Thursday he had been invited to join as a director as he was the company’s largest shareholder – and was waiting until the transitional services in relation to the finance function for the apparel brands business deal were completed.

When he joins as a director he will sit alongside long-time friend and business partner Gary Weiss, who is deputy chair and lead independent director of Myer and also a former director of Mr Lew’s Premier Investments. Another Myer director is Terry McCartney, who is also a director of Premier.

At the AGM, Mr Weiss received a 17.8 per cent vote against his re-election of Mr Weiss as a director, although there was a 98.69 per cent vote supporting the adoption of the remuneration report.

Ms Wirth said Myer was seeking other directors to join the board.

Myer executive chair Olivia Wirth in the Sydney store. Picture: Jeremy Piper

In a trading update at the AGM, Ms Wirth said Myer had got off to a “very encouraging” start to the new financial year, with group sales up 3 per cent for the first 19 weeks of 2026.

“It’s early days, we’re in the middle of the Christmas trade period, obviously, and we’ve still got weeks to go but some decent sales,” she said.

The department store chain recorded double-digit sales growth in homewares, womenswear and concessions over the past 19 weeks, and more work was to be done to lift its performance in womenswear, beauty and make-up.

“Homewares has been performing well for Myer over the last 12 months. It actually had a record year last financial year, and including our private label … performed very well,” she said.

“The areas that we’re looking to improve is actually womenswear and beauty and our Myer exclusive brands across men’s, women’s and kid’s.

“So there’s a big focus for us on our private label business. We’re relaunching those brands in men’s and women’s in February next year, and then, from a product and brand representation perspective, overhauling womenswear.”

She said shoppers would see new womenswear brands in store in the new year as Myer exited some brands and brought in 14 new labels this year.

On Wednesday Myer announced that TOPSHOP would return to Australia, and the brand would be launched across all 56 Myer department stores nationwide, from February 2026.