David Jones has announced it will open a new department store at Victoria's Highpoint Shopping Centre by the first quarter of 2013.
The national retailer revealed it will open a two-level, 14,000 square-metre site as part of a new fashion wing at the Highpoint centre. Construction on the store will begin in March 2011 and David Jones expects its Highpoint store will generate $50 to $60 million in sales per annum once established.
David Jones CEO Paul Zahra said Highpoint is the fifth new “high value” store the company has in the pipeline, in addition to new centres in Macquarie (NSW), Sunshine Plaza (QLD), Whitford (WA) and Pacific Fair (QLD).
“We are delighted to be establishing a presence in the attractive demographic of the Highpoint shopping centre catchment. It is a market in which we are not currently represented – our closest store to Highpoint being our Bourke Street Mall flagship store, which is approximately 12 kilometres away and all our other David Jones stores are in the eastern and southern suburbs of Melbourne,” Zahra said.
“We have for some time recognised that Melbourne is a market which represents growth opportunities for our company and in which David Jones is under-represented. The Highpoint region is currently serviced by only one department store which means there is enormous potential for a new department store entrant such as David Jones.”
Other reasons David Jones cited for wanting to have a presence in Highpoint include the centre's wide catchment area, with its total trade area population measuring just shy of one million people; the area's “high” average household income of $66,733; and Highpoint's ranking as the 10th largest shopping centre in Australia according to 2010 Big Guns research.
David Jones has entered into a 20 year agreement for lease with the co-owners of Highpoint Shopping Centre, namely GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund, Highpoint Property Group and The GPT Group. The new Highpoint fashion wing will also incorporate an additional 100 specialty retailers.