David Jones

Houndstooth branding, glistening perfume counters and the sound of a piano floating through the lobby in the afternoon. The David Jones department store has always been more than a little up itself. For good reason. It’s a brand synonymous with quality, luxury goods and rarefied notions of good taste.

There's no other store… so stuck in its ways

It’s a powerful and effective retail attitude that’s worked for the company since 1838. But it’s time for a serious revamp. If David Jones wants to survive this slump, they need to make it easier for us to buy their stuff.

The modern consumer wants more than easy access to great brands. We want dynamism, convenience, intelligence and flexibility just as much. Maybe even more.

Latest 2 of 138 comments

View all comments
 
  • Whooping Cough says:

    09:45pm | 24/03/12

    I’m one of those ex-employees that had a hideous experience.  I lasted three months in head office.  That was nearly three years ago.  I worked on ‘projects’.  At the time they were planning on updating the registers because they had completely run out of parts to repair the ones in… Read more »

  • Pete says:

    12:50pm | 24/03/12

    DJ’s like Myers lost the plot when they cut staff back. Now it’s full of (not many) low-rent casualised staff in a dead-end retail jobs. The sooner Australia gets rid of retail and its skill-less career structure, the better for the country. There are already too many damn shops for… Read more »

 

Well, ho, ho, ho. Talk about Christmas spirit. The big department stores are accused of exploiting Christmas by charging more than $20 for a photo with Santa.

How much did that horrible man say this would cost, Mum? Pic: AP.

I, for one, think it’s an excellent idea. Well, they’ve got to do something to make a buck with all those Judases buying cheap stuff online.

In fact, I think they should take this marvellous measure even further…

Latest 2 of 53 comments

View all comments
 
  • Q says:

    09:23am | 08/12/11

    The cost of the actual photo is irrelevant.  If you were to pay just the cost you would have to provide your own props and costume, dress as Santa, take the photo yourself and you wouldn’t be doing it your local shopping center.  How mean of all those businesses to… Read more »

  • cybacaT says:

    08:56am | 08/12/11

    Another Tracey Spicer article, another dig at Christians and their festivals, another swarm of disaffected, life-hating atheists gather to whinge.  Get over yourselves and wipe that massive chip of your shoulders.  This is a happy time of year available to everyone - even you people-hating types who live only to… Read more »

 

My Granny, bless her, still thinks computers are science fiction. She’s a remnant of a very different world- one where doctors wouldn’t blink if you packed your pillow with asbestos, then lit a smoke while rocking your darling little one to sleep.

I'm afraid I have to let you all go, as the sexual tension is gone and without it you're just a bunch of boring doctors and no-one wants to watch that.

It was also a world where “sexual harassment” was science fiction.

The recent Kristy Fraser-Kirk suit sparked some intense discussions in the workplaces and pubs around the nation. Some men saw a dangerous and unholy precedent on the horizon which threatened to ignite a wave of similar (and possibly frivolous) suits. Others saw justice and the protection of a woman’s right to feel safe at her place of work.

Latest 2 of 156 comments

View all comments
 
  • Steve_of_Cornubia says:

    12:19pm | 29/10/10

    @notSue: There must be two of you, because the writer of the second post clearly didn’t write (ore read) the first. Oh, and the harrassment didn’t end there, nor was it the same women subsequently. As a (very) young fellow working in a factory that employed 50% women, I and… Read more »

  • notSue says:

    09:48am | 29/10/10

    @ Eric and Steve. Beg to differ again, gentlemen. I did not dismiss the incident Steve quoted as “unimportant”. In fact, I applauded Steve for making his co-workers aware of his reaction to the gift, thereby fforestalling any further incidents. Yes, the women were sensible in recognising that their action… Read more »

 

Room 22B of the Federal Court of NSW grew pretty crowded as Kristy Fraser-Kirk’s $37 million sexual harassment lawsuit against David Jones, its directors and ex-CEO Mark McInnes came to a head. 

Here's looking at you kid. Source: Daily Telegraph

But if you went to the public gallery expecting to see any of the high-profile players you’d be sorely disappointed.

While the case itself had enough salacious and emotive elements to see it dramatically splashed across print, TV and online as a top-rating story, the scene in court was one carefully cloaked in the cool, passive-aggressive language of the legal profession. 

Latest 2 of 50 comments

View all comments
 
  • Charles Kelly says:

    04:12pm | 22/10/10

    It’s a win-win for women who constantly flirt and use their sexuality for career advancement. If their attempts prove ineffective, at least they know they can always sue for sexual harassment instead. Read more »

  • Charles Kelly says:

    08:42pm | 21/10/10

    I can’t believe some people are so gullible, they actually buy into the whole “punitive damages” excuse! It was simply a convenient escape clause, designed to disguise the fact that this greedy unscrupulous gold-digger was always just in it for the money. Read more »

 

Kristy Fraser-Kirk, the young woman who launched a $37 million law suit against David Jones and its former CEO Mark McInnes, is feeling the strain.

Who invited all these journalists? Picture: Brad Hunter

Yesterday her barrister Rachel Francois told the Federal Court Fraser-Kirk has developed an adjustment disorder and the “media intrusion” into her life since news of her case broke was partly to blame.

The point was raised during arguments over whether the names of potential witnesses in the mega sexual-harassment case should be made public, with Fraser-Kirk’s team saying it wanted to protect other women from suffering the same intrusions as the former DJ’s marketing staffer.

Latest 2 of 22 comments

View all comments
 
  • j says:

    12:52pm | 17/10/10

    what a greedy spoilt brat. Read more »

  • jason says:

    07:13pm | 01/10/10

    “suffering an adjustment disorder as a result of all the media attention”.. Would that be the media attention of her own stage managed media conference to set the ball rolling or some other media attention ? Read more »

 

In the wake of the $37 million suit against sacked David Jones boss Mark McInnes, you’d think the nation would be on high sexual harassment alert.

Hot tub hilarity or a disaster in the making?

But the good folk at Lynx deodorant have come up with a scheme that seems destined to dive headlong into those murky waters.

Get this. Lynx are about to open what they call the ultimate “man-cation” destination. Welcome to Lynx Lodge, a huge faux log cabin on Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle. There’s a teaser website here complete with the slogan “get laid back”. Meanwhile, allow me to quote from the brochure.

Latest 2 of 30 comments

View all comments
 
  • Rebecca says:

    05:22pm | 10/08/10

    It is not it is a legitimate advertising campaign. Why is that so hard to believe? Its just pretty girls employed in the standard positions which must be filled in a resort. They replace the overweight, ugly and cranky employees that no one wants to spoil their vacation. Read more »

  • Rebecca says:

    05:19pm | 10/08/10

    Firstly it is not assault AND battery unless the male giving the unwanted attention ‘anticipates’ the knee to the groin. Secondly, it is not assault and battery when the male is making unwanted advances on the woman. The male in that scenario is actually committing assault by making the woman… Read more »

 

This is not a facetious question. Boards all over Australia, those same boards whose population includes just 9 per cent women, will be looking without envy at David Jones this morning after publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk announced she was suing the company for $37 million.

Kristy Fraser-Kirk announces her staggering law suit yesterday. Picture: Brad Hunter

Fraser-Kirk was the young woman who’s complaint of sexual harassment against then-CEO Mark McInnes prompted his sacking in May.

A lot of people in the corporate world would be thinking this morning “they sacked him, what more does she want?”

Latest 2 of 94 comments

View all comments
 
  • tinuis says:

    12:33pm | 22/02/12

    buscadores mas importantes posicionamiento paginas     web en google Read more »

  • Gimpy883 says:

    10:09am | 28/10/11

    I’m gimpy Read more »

 

David Jones is reeling this morning after Chief Executive Mark McInnes quit after a 25-year-old female employee made a complaint about his conduct at a company function.

Former DJs CEO Mark McInness has reportedly left Australia

The Board is currently conducting a long, and amazingly frank, press conference, where Chairman Bob Savage has addressed the issue of what impact the scandal might have on the venerable David Jones brand.

Mr Savage says the David Jones name has been around since 1838 and its retail reputation was unlikely to be shaken. Would a harrassment scandal like this make you less likely to shop at the department store chain?

Latest 2 of 29 comments

View all comments
 
  • controversy says:

    03:28pm | 05/08/10

    Come on guys! do you honestly think it was Alannah Hill who theyre referring to as the ‘brunette’, the answer is under your nose- it is Megan Gale. Miranda Kerr did a no show at DJs fashion night because she didnt want to be apart of the scandal news or… Read more »

  • Eva says:

    10:33am | 21/06/10

    Err, it’s not a scandal. It’s a crime according to the workplace laws of this country. And I would never shop in David Jones. What an over-priced, indulgent rort. I’m a Vinnies girl through and through. Read more »

 

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Anthony Sharwood

RT @kellieconnolly: @penbo @antsharwood Not judging Hackett but to set the record straight again I had been asking 9 for a redundancy and left on good terms

David Penberthy

Feisty piece by @antsharwood leading http://t.co/5WsLF5Pf on how ch 9 can punt spiteri connolly rowe but not the delightful grant hackett

Daniel Piotrowski

@BjJafari thought your name sounded familiar! #twitter

Malcolm Farr

Wayne Swan says he has an enormous resources pipeline...for a man his size.

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

Is there a nicotine patch strong enough for this?

Is there a nicotine patch strong enough for this?

Ok. I am not a leading expert in world’s best practice on prisoner rehabilitation — my experience…

A great win by Webber, but it sure as hell wasn’t sport

A great win by Webber, but it sure as hell wasn’t sport

This morning I joined millions of other Australians in accelerating, braking, swearing and spilling coffee…

Fighting Assad one strongly worded statement at a time

Fighting Assad one strongly worded statement at a time

This weekend’s massacre in Houla, Syria, is one of those stories that invites but doesn’t…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Gentle jabs to the ribs

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more

243 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free daily Punch newsletter