Woolworths Holdings Limited

Pretty uncertain.

Next up, Australia's oldest department store, David Jones, went into voluntary administration on Thursday after 188 years, which is a process pretty similar to business rescue here.

And while it's no longer owned by Woolworths, South Africans might remember that they'd spent an absolute fortune buying it.

So here's a bit of a history lesson.

But things went wrong.

terribly wrong.

Australians increasingly shopped online, David Jones was losing customers to competitors, and Woolworths was spending enormous amounts of money just trying to keep the business afloat.

By 2019, it had already written more than 11 billion rand off the value of its investment.

They go and buy distressed assets on the cheap, maybe break them up, try to fatten them up, then sell them again.

They purchased David Jones for $100 billion from Woolworths, the South African Woolworths, nothing to do with the Australian version of Woolworths.

The South African Woolworths bought it about 10, 12 years earlier for $2 billion, and Now, that is an indication of department stores and David Jones.

It's gone from a $2 billion valuation to $100 million.

It's now being placed into voluntary administration.

The other thing is there's been a huge drift in Australian consumers seeking big box retailing.

Now, the most successful and fastest growing trading groups in Australia at the moment are are big box retailers with the name warehouse as part of their livery.

Whether it's in hardware, whether it's in pharmacy or kitchenware or in the wet areas of the home, there seems to be this expectation, I don't need necessarily the theatre, the upmarket appointments at point of purchase, but what I want is transactional situations because as the Managing Director of Woolworths said recently, they now in retail confront a population of 28 million Australians who are essentially entrenched value shoppers.

They go and buy distressed assets on the cheap, maybe break them up, try to fatten them up, then sell them again.

They purchased David Jones for $100 billion from Woolworths, the South African Woolworths, nothing to do with the Australian version of Woolworths.

The South African Woolworths bought it about 10, 12 years earlier for $2 billion, and Now, that is an indication of department stores and David Jones.

It's gone from a $2 billion valuation to $100 million.

It's now being placed into voluntary administration.

The other thing is there's been a huge drift in Australian consumers seeking big box retailing.

Now, the most successful and fastest growing trading groups in Australia at the moment are are big box retailers with the name warehouse as part of their livery.

Whether it's in hardware, whether it's in pharmacy or kitchenware or in the wet areas of the home, there seems to be this expectation, I don't need necessarily the theatre, the upmarket appointments at point of purchase, but what I want is transactional situations because as the Managing Director of Woolworths said recently, they now in retail confront a population of 28 million Australians who are essentially entrenched value shoppers.

They go and buy distressed assets on the cheap, maybe break them up, try to fatten them up, then sell them again.

They purchased David Jones for $100 billion from Woolworths, the South African Woolworths, nothing to do with the Australian version of Woolworths.

The South African Woolworths bought it about 10, 12 years earlier for $2 billion, and Now, that is an indication of department stores and David Jones.

It's gone from a $2 billion valuation to $100 million.

It's now being placed into voluntary administration.

The other thing is there's been a huge drift in Australian consumers seeking big box retailing.

Now, the most successful and fastest growing trading groups in Australia at the moment are are big box retailers with the name warehouse as part of their livery.

Whether it's in hardware, whether it's in pharmacy or kitchenware or in the wet areas of the home, there seems to be this expectation, I don't need necessarily the theatre, the upmarket appointments at point of purchase, but what I want is transactional situations because as the Managing Director of Woolworths said recently, they now in retail confront a population of 28 million Australians who are essentially entrenched value shoppers.

They go and buy distressed assets on the cheap, maybe break them up, try to fatten them up, then sell them again.

They purchased David Jones for $100 billion from Woolworths, the South African Woolworths, nothing to do with the Australian version of Woolworths.

The South African Woolworths bought it about 10, 12 years earlier for $2 billion, and Now, that is an indication of department stores and David Jones.

It's gone from a $2 billion valuation to $100 million.

It's now being placed into voluntary administration.

So, there is one problem.

The other thing is there's been a huge drift in Australian consumers seeking big box retailing.

Now, the most successful and fastest growing trading groups in Australia at the moment are big box retailers with the name Warehouse and as part of their livery, whether it's in hardware, whether it's in pharmacy or kitchenware or in the wet areas of the home, there seems to be this expectation, I don't need necessarily the theatre, the upmarket appointments at point of purchase, but what I want is transactional situations because, as the Managing Director of Woolworths said recently, They now in retail confront a population of 28 million Australians who are essentially entrenched value shoppers.

They go and buy distressed assets on the cheap, maybe break them up, try to fatten them up, then sell them again.

They purchased David Jones for $100 billion from Woolworths, the South African Woolworths, nothing to do with the Australian version of Woolworths.

The South African Woolworths bought it about 10, 12 years earlier for $2 billion, and Now, that is an indication of department stores and David Jones.

It's gone from a $2 billion valuation to $100 million.

It's now being placed into voluntary administration.

The other thing is there's been a huge drift in Australian consumers seeking big box retailing.

Now, the most successful and fastest growing trading groups in Australia at the moment are are big box retailers with the name warehouse as part of their livery.

Whether it's in hardware, whether it's in pharmacy or kitchenware or in the wet areas of the home, there seems to be this expectation, I don't need necessarily the theatre, the upmarket appointments at point of purchase, but what I want is transactional situations because as the Managing Director of Woolworths said recently, they now in retail confront a population of 28 million Australians who are essentially entrenched value shoppers.

The high-end chain has been struggling in recent years, like many department stores worldwide, in the face of changing consumer behaviour and the rise of ultra-cheap online shopping and buzzy specialty retailers like Mecca.

South Africa-based Woolworths Holdings shelled out $2.1 billion to acquire the then Stock Exchange-listed group in 2014, before selling it in 2023 to a Sydney-based private equity group for just $100 million.

Despite its efforts, Anchorage Capital has been unable to turn it around.

David Jones posted a $95.5 million loss for 2024-25, which was worse than the $74 million loss it recorded in 2023-24.