Premium food next D Jones offering

The well-heeled residents of Australia’s most affluent enclaves are going to have a whole new world of convenience at their feet, thanks to David Jones’ latest venture.

As part of its A$100 million ($104m) assault on the premium food sector, the department store chain is planning to open small-format stores in the wealthy suburbs where the bulk of its shoppers live.

Billed as high-end convenience stores, they will measure from 300 to 500 square metres and sell exclusive, premium brands that can’t be found at the major supermarkets.

David Jones food group executive Pieter de Wet said the convenience store chain would be unlike anything Australia has seen before.

“We are targeting exactly the same customer who shops at David Jones for their clothes: the top end of the market,” de Wet told news.com.au.

“The stand-alone stores will have a very small footprint in suburban locations and be dominated by fresh,” he said.

“That’s what our customers want.”

The venture will draw on extensive market research in Australia, along with observations of similar offerings in the United Kingdom, such as Marks & Spencer. And the executives rolling out the smaller format stores — which are yet to have an open date — will be conscious of avoiding a repeat of David Jones’ ill-fated attempt at a premium food offering more than a decade ago, or the more recent failure of Woolworths’ Thomas Dux.

“Why that didn’t work, and why we are going so slowly on the rollout, is that you’ve got to get your real estate right upfront,” de Wet said.

“With Thomas Dux, some stores were really profitable, while some were big-time loss making,” he said.

“If you’re going to have a premium food offering, it has to be differentiated — it can’t just be a selection of brands that will be in the supermarkets, because then you’ve got to compete on price.”