Retail property companies Scentre Group and Vicinity Centres are both reporting notable drops in sales at department stores across their respective portfolios through 2026.
Scentre Group manages Westfield destinations across Australia, while Vicinity Centres manages a variety of centres such as Chadstone, Chatswood Chase and Melbourne Emporium.
In its results today, Scentre Group reported that its department store retailers – such as Myer and David Jones – have seen a 3 per cent drop in sales in the three months to June 30, 2026.
In the six months to June 30, department stores saw a 0.4 per cent drop in spending.
Discount department stores – think Kmart, Target and Big W – saw a 1.5 per cent drop in the three months to June 30. In the six months to June 30, discount department stores saw a sales growth of 1 per cent, with both discount department stores and department stores seeing a lift of 1.2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively for all of FY26.
These results line up with what Vicinity Centres reported last week, which show department store sales across its portfolio dropping by 4.5 per cent in the six months to June 2026.
Moving annual total (MAT) sales across department stores for the year to June 2026 were down 1.3 per cent. This contrasts with positive growth reported in the six months and the full year to December 2025.
However, discount department stores across Vicinity Centres fared better than those at Scentre Group, with sales in that category up 2.5 per cent in the six months to June 2026 and to December 2025.
Myer did share a preliminary trading update for FY26 in July, which showed that group sales – which also include Apparel Brands (Just Jeans, etc) – whipped heavily between growth and fall month-on-month through the second half. In June and July, mojnthly sales dropped by 5.5 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.
Myer is expected to share its full-year audited results in September.
When it comes to product categories, Scentre Group reported that footwear sales have also struggled through FY26, being the only category to record a sales drop across the full financial year.
Sales in footwear was down by 4.7 per cent in the three months to June 30, down 4.4 per cent in the six months to June 30, and down 2.4 per cent for all of FY26.
Fashion, meanwhile, performed quite well, with sales lifting 5.3 per cent for all of FY26, 6.1 per cent for the second half, and 6.2 per cent in the last half.
The strongest category in terms of growth was jewellery, with sales up by over 8 per cent across the full-year, six months and three months.
In its reporting on category sales, Vicinity Centres paired apparel and footwear sales together. In the six months to June 30, sales in fashion and footwear grew by just 0.7 per cent. For the full year to June 30, apparel and footwear sales grew by 1.3 per cent – this is below the average across all categories of around 3 to 6 per cent.