They were once the giants of Australian retail. The only places to shop. Everything you wanted, all under the one roof.
Key points:
- QBE is Australia’s largest provider of trade credit insurance, and it will no longer cover contracts with Myer and David Jones
- This is because the risk of the big department stores defaulting on their debts to creditors is judged to have become too high
- Both department stores reject the risk of default, but analysts say voluntary administration remains a real option for both as they struggle to survive COVID-19
But for Myer and David Jones, the rise of specialty stores coupled with the invasion of the internet has triggered a dramatic fall from grace.
Now, both are struggling to stay alive, and COVID-19 has made their perilous situations worse.
Sales at Myer are lower today than they were 10 years ago; DJ’s sales are up in that decade, but only by 8 per cent.
Myer’s curr