From a modest drapery store in colonial Sydney to one of Australia’s most treasured retail institutions, the story of David Jones is also the story of a city, its people and a bygone era.
There was a time when a trip to David Jones was something special.
People dressed for the occasion. Mothers took their daughters into the city for a day of shopping. Families gathered around the Christmas windows, children marvelled at the decorations, and lunch or afternoon tea in the store’s restaurant was part of the experience.
There were polished counters, beautifully wrapped parcels, attentive sales assistants and the unmistakable scent of perfume drifting through the cosmetics department.
Shopping wasn’t something you squeezed into a spare five minutes.
It was an outing. Sometimes an entire day.
For generations of Sydneysiders, David Jones was far more than a department store. It was part of growing up, part of family traditions and part of the city’s identity.
And its story began almost 190 years ago with a Welsh immigrant who had a vision for what shopping in Sydney could become.
Victoria Morish - Melissa Hoyer - Skye Leckie at David Jones Fashion Week - Getty Images
A Welshman Arrives in Colonial Sydney
David Jones was born in Wales in 1793, long before Australia became a federated nation.
After gaining experience in London’s retail trade, he arrived in Sydney in 1835.
The Sydney he encountered was vastly different from the bustling international city we know today.
George Street was developing into a commercial thoroughfare, with horse-drawn carts, merchants, warehouses and small shops serving a growing colonial population.
On 24 May 1838, Jones opened a drapery store on George Street.
He sold fabrics, clothing and household merchandise, offering customers quality goods and service inspired by the shops of London.
It was a relatively modest enterprise, but Jones recognised the opportunities presented by a growing city.
His business gradually developed a reputation for quality, reliability and customer service.
Success, however, did not come without setbacks.
The company experienced serious financial difficulties, and Jones was forced to return from retirement to help rescue the business.
He died in 1873, aged 80, never living to see the extraordinary retail institution his descendants would create.
The Lloyd Jones Family: A Sydney Dynasty
The next generations of the family transformed David Jones from a drapery business into a sophisticated department store.
His son, Edward Lloyd Jones, helped modernise the operation, introducing new ideas and expanding the range of merchandise.
Tragically, Edward was killed in the Redfern railway disaster of 1894.
The family legacy continued through his son, Sir Charles Lloyd Jones, who became chairman of the company in 1920.
Sir Charles was much more than a retailer.
He was an arts patron, a prominent businessman and a man who understood the importance of presentation, elegance and reputation.
Under his leadership, David Jones developed its distinctive association with fashion, quality and prestige.
He recognised that shopping could be about more than purchasing merchandise.
It could be an experience.
And in the Sydney of the early twentieth century, that was a powerful idea.
The Grand Elizabeth Street Store
In 1927, David Jones opened its magnificent new store on Elizabeth Street.
It was an ambitious undertaking.
The building represented confidence in Sydney’s future and a belief that the city deserved a department store comparable with the great retail establishments of London, Paris and New York.
For shoppers, walking through its doors was an experience in itself.
There were expansive departments, polished counters, elegant displays and beautifully presented merchandise.
Sales assistants were immaculately dressed, and customer service was considered an essential part of the store’s identity.
The opening attracted enormous crowds.
Over time, the Elizabeth Street store became one of Sydney’s most recognisable landmarks.
Generations of families would come to know its entrances, escalators, counters and windows.
It was a place where memories were made.
Lunch at David Jones: A Sydney Tradition
For many older Sydneysiders, one of the fondest memories of David Jones has little to do with shopping.
It was the restaurant.
The store’s Great Restaurant, which opened in 1928, became a popular destination for shoppers and city workers.
Lunch at David Jones was once an occasion in its own right.
Friends met there. Mothers took their children. Grandparents treated grandchildren.
There was a sense of ceremony about the experience that seems almost unimaginable in today’s world of takeaway coffees and hurried food courts.
A shopping trip could include browsing the fashion departments, selecting something special and then sitting down to a proper lunch.
For many families, it became a cherished ritual.
The Christmas Windows That Captured a City’s Imagination
Perhaps no tradition is more closely associated with David Jones than Christmas.
Long before online catalogues and digital advertising, the department-store windows were among the great attractions of the festive season.
Families travelled into Sydney to see the elaborate displays.
Children stood outside, captivated by animated characters, miniature scenes and imaginative Christmas decorations.
For some, the windows were as much a part of Christmas as the presents waiting beneath the tree.
Inside the store, the toy department offered another world of excitement.
There were dolls, trains, games and toys that children had spent months dreaming about.
And there was the anticipation of visiting Father Christmas.
For generations, these experiences helped make David Jones part of the Australian Christmas tradition.
The windows weren’t simply advertising. They were theatre.
When Customer Service Was Personal
There was a time when shopping at David Jones meant dealing with sales assistants who knew their merchandise intimately.
Customers could seek advice on fabrics, fashion, homewares and gifts.
Clothing alterations, carefully wrapped purchases and home deliveries were all part of the traditional department-store experience.
The presentation mattered. So did the packaging.
Even the distinctive black-and-white houndstooth pattern, introduced as part of the company’s branding in the twentieth century, became instantly recognisable.
A David Jones shopping bag carried a certain sense of occasion.
It suggested that whatever was inside had been chosen with care.
And for many Australians, receiving a beautifully wrapped gift from David Jones was something special.
From the City to the Eastern Suburbs
David Jones’s history is closely connected to the development of Sydney and the lifestyles of its residents.
As the city grew, so too did its affluent residential neighbourhoods.
Suburbs such as Woollahra, Bellevue Hill, Darling Point, Point Piper and Double Bay became associated with established families, business leaders and professionals.
Sir Charles Lloyd Jones himself had a connection to the Eastern Suburbs.
From 1932 until his death in 1958, he owned Rosemont, a grand residence in Woollahra.
His life reflected an era when successful Sydney merchants were often prominent figures in the city’s cultural, commercial and social circles.
The relationship between the city and the suburbs was also different.
Before suburban shopping centres became widespread, travelling into central Sydney was an important part of shopping and social life.
For Eastern Suburbs families, a trip into town could involve visiting David Jones, enjoying lunch and perhaps strolling through the surrounding city streets.
It was a tradition that connected generations.
The Changing Fortunes of a Family Empire
For more than a century, David Jones remained closely associated with the family whose name appeared above its doors.
But the business gradually changed.
It became a public company in 1906 and was listed on the stock exchange in 1920.
In 1980, Adelaide Steamship acquired control, ending the Lloyd Jones family’s long period of influence over the business.
Further ownership changes followed.
In 2014, South African retailer Woolworths Holdings acquired David Jones for approximately $2.1 billion.
In 2023, Australian private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners purchased the business.
By then, the world of retailing was almost unrecognisable from the one David Jones had entered in 1838.
Shopping centres, discount retailers, international fashion brands and online shopping had transformed consumer habits.
The great department stores faced challenges their founders could never have imagined.
Yet the David Jones name endured.
The Sydney We Remember
There is something wonderfully nostalgic about old photographs of David Jones and the surrounding Sydney streets.
The trams, the beautifully dressed shoppers, the motorcars, the grand shopfronts and the bustling footpaths all capture a city from another time.
They remind us of an era when a day in town was an event.
When people arranged to meet beneath familiar landmarks.
When shop windows were designed to stop pedestrians in their tracks.
When sales assistants offered personal service.
And when a purchase might be wrapped in tissue paper, placed carefully into a distinctive bag and carried home with pride.
Of course, not everything about the past was better.
Shopping today is more convenient, accessible and varied than ever before.
But convenience has replaced some of the ceremony that once surrounded a visit to the city.
The department-store restaurant, the carefully presented counter and the leisurely afternoon spent browsing have become less central to everyday life.
And perhaps that is why the memories remain so powerful.
More Than a Department Store
Almost two centuries after David Jones opened his first small drapery shop on George Street, his name remains part of Australia’s retail history.
He could hardly have imagined that his modest enterprise would grow into a national institution, or that generations of families would associate his name with Christmas celebrations, special occasions and cherished memories.
The business he founded helped shape Sydney’s shopping culture.
Its grand buildings became city landmarks.
Its windows captured children’s imaginations.
And its stores were woven into the everyday lives of countless Australian families.
For those who remember the old David Jones, the nostalgia isn’t necessarily about the clothes, the furniture or the merchandise.
It’s about the experience. The excitement of a trip into town. The pleasure of lunch with family. The magic of the Christmas windows. The elegance of a beautifully presented store.
And the simple enjoyment of an afternoon when nobody seemed to be in quite such a hurry.
Because there was a time when shopping wasn’t just about buying something.
It was about going somewhere.
And for generations of Sydneysiders, that somewhere was David Jones.