Woolworths Holdings CEO Ian Moir plans to sell two of the four David Jones stores in Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD to consolidate the flagship stores into one. This puts a question mark on the future location of the small appliance product range in the current Market Street store in Sydney on level three, which also houses the iconic DJs Food Hall. Woolworths will reportedly begin the sale of the DJs stores in early 2016, which have been tipped to sell for nearly $400 million.
David Jones Sydney flagship store
Boutique investment bank Rothschild is understood to be advising on the sale while real estate firms CBRE and Savills have been drafted in to provide property expertise, sources said.
Woolworths Holdings first raised a sale of its CBD property portfolio in Sydney and Melbourne in 2014 and at its full-year results in August this year, Moir said the company’s plan was to create a single store in Sydney and a single store in Melbourne.
In Sydney, David Jones is likely to consolidate into its adjacent building on Elizabeth Street while in Melbourne it would centralise into 310 Bourke Street. Proceeds from the sale will be used to refurbish and expand the remaining stores.