Door closes on yet another DJ chief
UP-MARKET department store David Jones is again searching for a new boss, having churned through its fourth chief executive in less than five years.
The nation’s oldest department store said chief executive David Thomas had resigned for “personal reasons” after little more than eight months in the role and his replacement would be “announced in due course”.
Mr Thomas did not attend a celebrity-studded two-day launch of the retailer’s new autumn and winter collection in Hobart this week.
David Jones recorded a sharp slump in sales growth in the weeks leading into Christmas – traditionally a retailer’s busiest trading period – as it overhauls its flagship store in Sydney and rolls out a new gourmet food offering.
David Jones is owned by South African retail group Woolworths Holdings, which is led by Ian Moir. Mr Moir will run the chain until a new CEO is found.
Woolworths Holdings shelled out $2.1 billion for David Jones in 2014 but cut its book value by close to one-third last year. The retail giant, which also owns the Country Road group of fashion labels, has churned through four chief executives since August 2014, including Paul Zahra, Ian Nairn and John Dixon.
Rival chain Myer is on to its third chief since 2015 as the grand old dames of Australian retail struggle to confront new fast fashion interlopers, the growth of online shopping and a consumer shift towards specialty stores.
Mr Thomas took over from Mr Dixon, a 25-year veteran of UK department store Marks and Spencer, in May last year. Mr Dixon spent about twoand-a-half years in the role after taking over from Mr Nairn, who left abruptly in October 2015 after 14 months in the role, again citing personal reasons.
Last month David Jones said sales growth for the six months to December slowed to 1 per cent, well down on the 2.9 per cent growth it posted for the same period a year earlier. Like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of stores opening and closing, rose 0.9 per cent, again well down on the 3.3 per cent growth notched up a year earlier.
Woolworths Holdings has invested heavily in David Jones in recent years, overhauling its private label clothing range, rolling out a gourmet food offering and spending $200 million rejuvenating its Sydney flagship outlet.
While sales growth has slowed at David Jones, it has appeared to be faring better than Myer, where sales dropped by 3.1 per cent in the year to June 2018.
The change in David Jones leadership came as administrators for Ed Harry said they had been unable to find a buyer and would now shut down the collapsed menswear chain.