My own photo of David Jones at Queens Plaza, Brisbane City, on Friday night. Faces are blurred.
A day after David Jones went into voluntary administration, I expected its Brisbane City store to be quiet, half-empty and a bit sad. It wasn't. On Friday shopping night, the store at Queens Plaza was busy. Shoppers crowded around the sale items, the brand-name stock was still on the shelves, and there were plenty of staff on the floor.
Living in Brisbane, I walk past this store on my way to and from work, so I went in to see for myself. This is what I saw, and how it compares with the news. I talked it through in Cantonese on my podcast; YouTube also has an English dub and English subtitles.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/G28aEynsev0
What happened to David Jones this week?
David Jones, Australia's 188-year-old department store, appointed McGrathNicol as voluntary administrators on Thursday 5 November 2026. FTI Consulting was appointed as receivers for the lender. Both say the business is still trading, and the chief executive said all 38 stores are open.
The news has focused on the bad signs: some luxury brands pulling stock off the shelves, suppliers worried about unpaid bills, and landlords chasing rent. TV footage showed bare shelves and suppliers carrying goods out. I wrote about the longer story of how it got here in David Jones Administration: Why a 188-Year-Old Store Fell.
Was the Brisbane David Jones empty after administration?
No. On Friday 6 November, Brisbane's late-night shopping night, the City store was full of people.
That surprised me. A week or two earlier I had gone in on a Saturday afternoon, around 2 pm after lunch, and the whole floor was very quiet. So this time I expected the worst: no shoppers, empty shelves, the kind of scene you film and post as proof that the end is near. I was ready to make that video. I didn't need to.
Friday night on the escalators. The sale signs say up to 60% off.
What were people buying?
Mostly discounted homewares and small appliances. The busiest spots I saw were:
- Coffee machines: signs offered up to 35% off selected machines, and people were stopping to compare models.
- Kettles, drink bottles and kitchenware: one trolley of insulated tumblers was marked 40% off.
- Bigger small appliances, such as premium vacuums, which had a crowd of their own.
One thing to be fair about: the sale signs are labelled "Black Friday Sale". So these are the usual pre-Christmas discounts, not a closing-down sale. Still, the timing helped. People came for the bargains, and perhaps a little out of curiosity, like me.
Were the shelves empty?
Not in the parts of the store I walked through. The brand-name goods I expected to be gone were still on display, and nobody was carrying stock out while I was there. My guess is that much of this stock had already been bought and paid for before the administration, so it stays and gets sold. That's only my guess; the news reports say some luxury brands have removed stock, and that may be true in other stores or departments.
The children's floor: full racks and a "now on" sale sign.
Are the staff still there?
Yes, and that was the part I liked most. There were plenty of staff, and I recognised a few faces. Some of them had worked for years at the David Jones in Garden City and were moved to the City store. A staff member came up and asked me, "Is there anything I can help you with?" It felt as if they had more people on the floor, not fewer.
The receivers say about 6,000 people work for David Jones. For now, they are still turning up and serving customers, and the customers are still turning up too.
So, is David Jones going to be OK?
I can't tell you that, and one busy Friday night doesn't prove anything. The debts, the rent and the owner's plans will decide what happens. The first creditors' meeting is set for 17 November. What I can say is that the picture on the news and the picture on the shop floor in Brisbane were very different. If you only watch the news, you would think the store was already empty. It wasn't.
Have you been to David Jones since the news broke? Was your store busy or quiet? I'd love to hear in the comments under the video.
More from Brisbane life: Should You Stockpile Food? A Brisbane Get Ready View and Canva Layoffs 2026: Why the 22% Cut Drew Little Anger. For weekly supermarket specials, see Coles vs Woolworths prices.
Sources and notes
- The Nightly, 5 Nov 2026: administrators McGrathNicol appointed, receivers FTI Consulting, "all 38 of our stores are open and trading".
- ABC News, 7 Nov 2026: luxury brands pulling stock, receivers say the business is "continuing to trade", about 6,000 staff, first creditors' meeting 17 November.
- Store visit, photos and video: my own, Friday 6 November 2026, David Jones Queens Plaza, Brisbane City. Faces are blurred. What I saw is one evening in one store, not a survey.
- Checked 7 November 2026. Written with AI help for transcription, translation and fact-checking; the views are mine.
