David Jones Collapses Into Administration After 188 Years, Leaving 38 Stores and About 6,000 Jobs in Limbo

David Jones, the 188-year-old department store chain, has been placed into voluntary administration, with its secured lender immediately appointing receivers and managers to take control of day-to-day trading.

What happened

On Thursday 5 November, the directors appointed Jason Preston, Shaun Fraser, Jacinta Neilsen and Matthew Hutton of McGrathNicol as voluntary administrators. Christopher Hill, David McGrath and Joanne Dunn of FTI Consulting were then appointed receivers and managers of parent company ACP Riley Street Midco Pty Ltd and associated companies by the secured lender, which the ABC identified as Hilco.

David Jones’ stores and online business continue to trade under the receivers’ control while they review operations. McGrathNicol is running a process seeking offers to recapitalise the business or sell it as a going concern.

“We understand the current retail trading environment, rising costs, a significant and outdated retail footprint, and supply chain challenges have led to this point,” Mr Hill said. “We will manage this process carefully, mindful of the impact on some stakeholders but also recognising the need for difficult decisions.”

The landlords

The collapse follows a breakdown in negotiations with Westfield owner Scentre Group. Scentre said David Jones had paid rent up to 30 September 2026 but had not paid its most recent invoice. “We have made a generous offer to Anchorage Capital that would have facilitated the continuation of David Jones trading and that offer has disappointingly been rejected by them,” Scentre said. David Jones occupies space in 17 Westfield centres, and had provided $45 million in bank guarantees across the Westfield portfolio, of which Scentre’s share is about $30 million, or about eight months’ gross rent.

Vicinity Centres said David Jones owed it $2.2 million in unpaid rent at the end of October across four stores, which contribute about $34 million, or 2.4%, of its gross rental income. Vicinity said it does not hold bank guarantees for those stores.

Staff, suppliers and customers

David Jones employs about 6,000 people across 38 stores, including one in Auckland. In a letter to staff obtained by the ABC, Mr McGrath said: “It is likely there will be steps to reduce the retail footprint in the near-term.”

Chief executive Erica Berchtold said: “We have a well-developed plan on how to reset the business for the future and will be working with the administrators, the receivers and our secured lender as we continue to pursue that reset of the business.”

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association national secretary Gerard Dwyer told the ABC the priority was keeping as many jobs as possible. “Smaller is better than no David Jones, and a smaller David Jones can then deal with some of the challenges that they’ve obviously been facing,” he said. Finder’s Angus Kidman urged gift card holders to use them quickly: “If the business doesn’t find a buyer, that gift card will almost certainly be worthless.”

Private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners bought David Jones from South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings. For suppliers and landlords, the coming weeks will show how much of the network a buyer or recapitalised business wants to keep.

Sources: Business News Australia (5 November 2026); ABC News (5 November 2026); The Guardian Australia (5 November 2026); McGrathNicol creditor notice; Retail World (6 November 2026).