For many, growing up in the suburbs meant a train trip to the city for school uniforms or, come December, the window display and Santa, and lunch in the food hall.
asserted
growing → grow → hall
Dressed in their best clothes, children wandered the floors of this bastion of middle-class refinement with mothers who inspected and touched the racks of leading Australian fashion labels and had their own dreams.
asserted
who → dress → dreams
Prue Acton, Sportscraft and Carla Zampatti were joined by the best global labels and, together with seasonal shows replete with big names on the runway and celebrity guests, made David Jones Australia’s fashion central.
asserted
Jones → join → runway
The David Jones Art Gallery supported Australian artists; before television arrived in the 1950s, a staff amateur theatre group, the Dajonian Repertory Society, staged six plays a year; on her first visit to Sydney in 1954, Queen Elizabeth II attended a banquet dinner on the seventh floor of the Elizabeth Street store.
asserted
II → support → store
But after 188 years, David Jones’ future hangs in the balance, with the board calling in administrators and the lender sending in the receivers.
asserted
lender → hang → receivers
The department store chain is still trading, but no one is sure for how long.
asserted
one → trade → ?
David Jones employs about 6000 staff and has 38 physical stores, with 17 of those in Westfield shopping centres.
asserted
Jones → employ → centres
Unions are concerned about layoffs before Christmas.
asserted
Unions → concern → Christmas
Various businesses have been left in the lurch and the owners and agents of luxury brands have began removing stock from outlets where they have “concession pad” agreements with the store.
asserted
they → leave → store
The collapse is part of a worldwide phenomenon – department stores have been smashed by an alarming combination: the global financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis; and, most painfully, the rapid rise of online shopping.
asserted
stores → smash → shopping
They have also been hit by what’s termed the bifurcation of retail, where top-end shoppers have migrated to super-luxe stores and the bottom end of the market hunts for more bargain-basement offerings, with department stores taking the hit in the middle.
asserted
stores → hit → middle
David Jones’ problems were compounded by dubious business decisions that began during the 1980s takeover fad with the Jones family selling out, and continued on and off for years until the company was unable to pay rent to Westfield last September.
asserted
company → compound → Westfield
Twelve years ago, a South African company reportedly paid $2.1 billion to buy David Jones.
uncertain
company → pay → Jones
Three years ago, Anchorage Capital Partners bought the department store chain for less than $100 million but still could not make a go of it.
uncertain
Partners → buy → it
It is a long way from 1838, when Welsh draper David Jones opened one of the world’s first department stores in Sydney.
asserted
Jones → open → Sydney
It remained largely a Sydney phenomenon for the first century or so, opening in Newcastle in 1957 and then expanding into the regions and metropolitan suburbs around the nation.
asserted
It → remain → nation
David Jones arrived in Victoria in the 1960s, and in 1982 it acquired the three stores of Buckley & Nunn located in Bourke Street, Northland and Chadstone.
asserted
it → arrive → Street
In 1987, David Jones purchased the former GJ Coles store and building at 299 Bourke Street, Melbourne, converting it into a David Jones store.
asserted
Jones → purchase → store
David Jones had always been Sydney’s most upmarket store, specialising in quality goods and elite customer services.
asserted
Jones → specialise → goods
Georges Store in Collins Street had long catered to the cream of Melbourne society and liked to think of itself as the equal to Harrods of London.
asserted
Store → cater → London
In 1981, David Jones bought Georges and slowly squeezed it into oblivion, eventually closing it in 1995 in the hope of keeping much of the cream for itself.
asserted
Jones → buy → itself
It did not happen.
asserted
It → happen → ?
In the end, David Jones was slowly squeezed by rising costs, changing shopping habits and online technology, a vestige of a way of shopping out of step with the times.
asserted
Jones → squeeze → times
The sun is setting on an Australian retail icon.
asserted
sun → set → icon
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asserted
that → get → own
The Aporia
