From Sydney flagship.
South African Woolworths, owner of David Jones, will be closing the department store’s Sydney head office and shifting corporate functions to Melbourne in early 2017. The move is likely to result in job losses across buying, planning, finance and visual merchandising roles.
It will free up floor space at the flagship Elizabeth Street store, which will be needed for retail space following the $370 million sale of the Market Street store. It will also help Woolworths achieve cost savings targets of between $20 million and $30 million by merging David Jones’ head office and supply chain with Country Road.
Sources said the Victorian government had offered generous incentives to encourage Woolworths to move David Jones’ corporate office and distribution centre to Melbourne, according to an article in The Australian Financial Review.