David Jones, Australia's oldest department store, collapses after 188 years

David Jones has gone into voluntary administration after 188 years, putting thousands of jobs at risk, the BBC reports. The retailer, known as DJs, employs about 6,000 staff across 38 stores, 17 of them in Westfield centres; stores and the website keep trading while receivers FTI Consulting review the business and administrators McGrathNicol look for a restructure. Hours before the board's vote, Westfield owner Scentre said David Jones had not paid October's rent. CEO Erica Berthold said the brand has a "well-developed plan" to "reset the business for the future." Marketing academic Jana Bowden called the collapse a "death knell" for the department store format: once "the Aussie version of Harrods," with Christmas windows families travelled hours to see, the suburban stores had become "mundane." Queen Elizabeth II dined on the seventh floor of the Elizabeth Street store during her 1954 visit. A retail institution runs out of time.