David Jones, the world's oldest department store still trading under its original name, entered voluntary administration and receivership on Thursday after years of mounting losses.
Janet Saunders, 73, has been shopping at David Jones' Bourke Street Mall store in Melbourne since she first visited with her mother when she was about 10.
"I'd be very sad if they were to close. It would be terrible for Bourke Street Mall," she said.
Devoted shopper Navishkar Ram posted on David Jones' Facebook page that he was "beyond devastated" to learn the business was entering administration.
"I always loved shopping at your stores - it formed a huge part of my childhood," he wrote.
Others remembered David Jones' magical Christmas window displays at its flagship Elizabeth St store in the Sydney city centre.
"Dad used to drive us into the city after dinner and a bath to see the windows," Annette Snars posted on social media.
"We'd be in the car, drive down Elizabeth Street and fall asleep on the way home ... it's a beautiful childhood memory."
The store's Christmas displays are up again for another year, this time with a Winnie the Pooh theme.
The Sydney store's resident pianist of two decades, British migrant Michael Hope, still entertains shoppers with Christmas music on his Steinway grand piano.
"So many Australians have stories and memories of visiting DJ's stores," said David Jones chief executive Erica Berchtold, who took over in June.
Despite Thursday's setback, she said the company had a "well-developed plan on how to reset the business for the future" as it worked through the issues with administrators, receivers and secured lenders.Â
That plan is likely to involve closing some of David Jones' 37 stores in Australia and one in Auckland, threatening the jobs of many of its 6000 employees.
Voluntary administration and receivership will give the retailer "breathing room" and an opportunity to restructure the business, according to FTI Consulting's Christopher Hill.
He is one of three FTI executives appointed as receivers and managers of the business.
In the meantime, voluntary administrators McGrathNicol will immediately seek offers for a recapitalisation or the sale of the business, founded in Sydney in 1838 by Welsh immigrant David Jones.
Next steps will be discussed at a creditors' meeting in the coming week, with a date still to be set.
The Edwardian Baroque building David Jones occupies in Melbourne is the city's longest continuously operating retail establishment, built in 1911-12 for Buckley & Nunn, the department store David Jones acquired in 1982.
Committee for Melbourne boss Cath Evans said the Bourke St store had made the mall one of the city's great destinations for generations.
"It is a sad day when the future of such an iconic Melbourne store is now in doubt," she said.
It was business as usual at the six-storey store on Thursday, although one floor featured empty shelves and naked mannequins.
A store clerk stationed near a largely bare shoe display was heard assuring inquisitive customers the chain was facing "a bump in the road - that's what I like to call it".
Like other department stores internationally, the high-end chain has struggled in recent years amid the rise of ultra-cheap online shopping and buzzy specialty retailers such as Mecca.
"Like many bricks and mortar retailers, David Jones has suffered at the hands of the internet and the competitive forces that can sell the same products as David Jones sells at a cheaper price," Swinburne governance expert Helen Bird said.
David Jones recorded a $95.5 million loss in 2024/25, which was worse than the $74 million loss in 2023/24.
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