By Claire Reilly
David Jones has today announced plans to open a new 14,200 square-metre store in the Indooroopilly shopping centre in south-west Brisbane, as part of a $450 million redevelopment. Construction is set to begin in the first quarter of 2012, with the store set to open in the first quarter of 2014.
Talking up the new location was DJs CEO Paul Zahra.
“We are delighted to be establishing a presence in Indooroopilly Shopping Centre,” he said. “It has the best demographic profile in metropolitan Brisbane and is a centre we have wanted to be present in for some time as we believe its high growth, high value demography is a perfect fit for our customer offering.”
According to a statement from the company, the new full-line store is expected to generate sales of “at least $40 million per annum and EBIT [Earnings Before Interest and Tax] of at least $5 million per annum by Year 2”.
The fit-out of the new store will be jointly funded by David Jones, its suppliers and the development landlord. It will form part of the larger redevelopment of a new fashion wing in the Shopping Centre, which is set to include approximately 120 additional specialty stores and will also incorporate some 900 new car parking spaces.
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Speaking about the suitability of the new location, David Jones group executive of retail development and procurement, Antony Karp, provided a snapshot of the local Indooroopilly area.
“We have for some time recognised that Queensland is a market which represents growth opportunities for our company and in which David Jones is under-represented,” said Karp.
“The Indooroopilly trade area...has more than 35,000 high-income earners (people earning above $78,000 per annum) in its catchment,” he said, adding that the total Department Store Type Merchandise market in the area is valued at $2.7 billion – 55 per cent larger than the average DSTM catchment.
“All of these factors make Indooroopilly an excellent location for a new David Jones department store.”
The Indooroopilly Shopping Centre currently boasts large-format Myer, Harvey Norman, Target and Kmart stores, as well as a variety of specialty electronics stores and a roller skating rink.
