SYDNEY – Australian department store chain David Jones has appointed Erica Berchtold as chief executive officer, effective immediately.

Berchtold, the retailer’s chief commercial officer since May 2025, succeeds Scott Fyfe, who has been in the CEO role since October 2020. 

During his tenure, Fyfe oversaw the 2022 ownership transition of David Jones from Woolworths South Africa to Sydney-based private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners and the implementation, from 2023, of a 250 million Australian dollar “Vision 2025+” transformation strategy, or $168 million at 2023 exchange. The company currently operates 38 stores across Australia and New Zealand, as well as davidjones.com. 

“We are fully appreciative of [Fyfe’s] efforts during complex times and wish him all the best in his future endeavours” said a spokesperson for Anchorage Capital Partners, which also announced a restructured financing arrangement, via a new three-year, asset-backed lending facility with the Asia-Pacific arm of British financial investment and restructuring advisory company Hilco Capital.

Berchtold, 50, the former CEO of Australian online retailer The Iconic and before that, of Australian budget-fashion conglomerate Mosaic Brands, becomes the first woman to helm David Jones, which was founded in 1838 and is the oldest continuously operating department store in the world still trading under its original name.

“It is a tremendous honor to be appointed CEO of David Jones, one of Australia’s most iconic retail brands with a proud 188-year history” said Berchtold, who will oversee the implementation of a new five-year strategy called Insipre30. 

”The refinancing allows us to stabilize and reset the business with a strong focus on growing our strategic core and modernizing our technology and digital platforms” she added. “My aim is to further improve customer experience by curating our brand so that our strategy is aligned with our core values and the needs of our customers. I plan to lead our incredible team of people with decisive and results-oriented action.”

In April, David Jones reported a 3.6 percent increase in same-store sales during the first quarter of the 2025-2026 financial year, which ends June 30, driven by a 10 percent increase in online sales and a 325 percent surge in underlying earnings to 51.6 million Australian dollars ($35 million) for the nine months to March, with the cost of doing business decreasing 5.6 percent. David Jones’ sales performance outperformed the broader sector, which saw discretionary spending fall 0.8 percent month-on-month according to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Monthly Household Spending Indicator, which was released in April.

The retailer’s fiscal 2025 results, also released in April, revealed a pre-tax loss of 95.5 million Australian dollars ($62 million) for 2025, widening from a loss of 74.1 million Australian dollars ($49 million) in 2024, with 2025 sales down 8.7 per cent to two billion Australian dollars ($1.3 billion).

Earlier this year the company was the focus of a slew of negative media reports regarding delays in both vendor and supplier payments and its financial reporting obligations with Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.