‘I shopped at David Jones and was reminded why the iconic department store sadly went downhill’

Opinion: It’s 5pm on a Tuesday afternoon and I’ve rushed to the David Jones store in the Sydney CBD after work.

I’m here because I have $500 worth of gift cards to spend. Most of them expire in December 2026, so I’ve already left it quite late, but recent news about the uncertainty of David Jones’ future means there’s even more urgency for me to use them.

The 188-year-old iconic Australian retailer was handed over to administrators and receivers on Thursday morning. There will be store closures and people will lose their jobs, reportedly before Christmas. The warning signs were there: after declining sales and losses, major fashion brands that featured prominently in David Jones for years have been scaling back their presence, and Westfield’s parent company says the department store failed to pay rent last month.

So what’s the vibe like at the Elizabeth Street store, which also happens to be the retailer’s flagship and its largest, spread across 12 storeys in a heritage building?

On the ground floor, which features designer concession stores and beauty counters, there are some customers walking around, browsing. The busiest area is the Gentle Monster section, where people are trying on sunglasses.

Next to Gentle Monster there’s a big sheet concealing where two designer concession stores used to be, teasing ‘All will be REVEALED soon…’

I can’t remember which stores these used to be.

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There are also some holiday decorations hanging from the ceiling with banners that read ‘The home of Christmas’. Yet it doesn’t feel very festive.

A few months ago I popped into David Jones while it was hosting its annual Flower Show. The ground floor level looked like a springtime wonderland, and there were people walking around admiring the displays and taking photos.

But a beautiful exhibition doesn’t always turn passersby into customers.

I have some theories as to why David Jones has become a ghost town.

While this isn’t the case for all DJs stores, the one on Elizabeth Street is disadvantaged by being located on the fringe of the city, with one side of the block facing Hyde Park.

Foot traffic would also have been impacted when the light rail came along (previously buses were the only way in and around the city and most of them stopped on Elizabeth Street and Castlereagh Street, which flank David Jones).

Meanwhile, its competitor Myer is situated between the busy, parallel shopping precincts Pitt Street and George Street, and is often used as a thoroughfare, where people can be easily distracted by sale items or bombarded with perfume samples.

As someone who enjoys the occasional window-shop on my way home from the office in North Sydney to the eastern suburbs, making the trip to David Jones is an effort, given I can find most of the brands they stock in other stores on the way there.

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It’s the concession store model, perhaps once its strength, that could be contributing to its downfall. In my experience, the concession stores inside David Jones either don’t have enough stock or don’t have any staff. When I went in to buy a particular item from the Aesop concession (to use my vouchers), they told me it was out of stock, but that the Aesop store on Pitt Street most likely had it.

Even with vouchers burning a hole in my pocket, it hasn’t incentivised me to shop at David Jones more frequently. When I look online and find something worth buying, a quick Google search reveals the same item is on sale somewhere else.

I’m at the point where something being cheaper elsewhere doesn’t matter.

So what do I buy? We need new baking trays so I beeline to the Le Creuset concession. I pick out the Heritage Rectangular Dish we’d looked at online from the shelf (and yes it’s currently cheaper on another site) and ask the lovely sales assistant if she has a new one.

“I think that’s the last one,” she tells me. “And we’re currently not getting new stock.”

She manages to find another one underneath a bench and takes it to the counter. As she starts wrapping it, I ask if they accept vouchers.

She laughs. “We’ve had a lot of people doing that recently.”

Then we hit a snag. The register isn’t reading the gift cards. She finds another staffer to help, but it’s the same result. “Do you want me to hold the dish for you and you can get it later this week?” the Le Creuset sales assistant asked me.

Ideally not.

They move me to another register, where the gift cards continue to fail. “They worked this morning,” the second sales assistant says. It takes a third staffer to finally get the transaction to work.

I’m not offered the complimentary tote bag for sales over $100.

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I walk around for another 40 minutes perusing the store and am reminded why I’ve often left David Jones empty-handed. They stock many brands but not enough range. I’ve previously visited DJs to try on hard-to-get brands for sizing purposes (like Reformation clothing or Alohas shoes), and then purchased from the brand directly because DJs didn’t carry the item I was after. After all the change rooms have always been free.

The experience makes me feel a bit sad. There was a time, many years ago, when the David Jones Boxing Day sale was a holiday highlight, an event I would wake up early for and attend with my aunt. David Jones used to be the place where I rarely bought anything unless it was discounted.

Now I’m struggling to spend $500.

As I’m about to leave I remember I’ve been after a silk pillowcase. A quick search online reveals the David Jones Collection pillowcases have a promotion if you spend over $150 (a 40 per cent saving). A friendly sales assistant directs me to the pillowcases. “We don’t have the biggest colour range but personally I love the burgundy,” he says. The only other colour they have is ‘pesto’ green. I take one of each.

The lady serving me at the customer service desk tells me these are the best silk pillowcases she’s ever used and that I’m getting a great deal. She even gives me some washing instructions. Most of the team members who’ve helped me are lovely, and I feel bad knowing some of them are probably bracing for the worst.

Thankfully, there are no issues with the gift cards this time.

For a moment I think, this could be my last time shopping at DJs. But no – I’ll be back very soon, either in-store or online.

After all, I still have $262 I need to spend.

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