Two weeks ago, David Jones opened the gates to its ‘Shoe Heaven’, part of its $200 million-dollar redevelopment of it’s flagship Elizabeth Street store.

Inside retail quotes David Jones chief executive David Thomas said

“Level seven will be home to 85 of the world’s leading brands, many of which are department store exclusive and new to David Jones, providing our customers with an unrivalled offering and experience housed in a one of a kind, world-class location,”

Numensa headed to the store last week to see if we were indeed transported to heaven.

This is what we thought…

Once we arrived on the 7th floor (it takes some time), our attention is immediately drawn to the designer ‘Shop in Shops’, how light, bright and inviting the room feels and the vast array of choice.

Once we begin to browse we start to appreciate the first part of the floor is dedicated to the Carrie Bradshaw’s of the world and did not fit into our acceptable shoe budget.

Given David Jones neighbours in the adjoining Westfield; Miu Miu, Gucci, Celine, Prada etc we would assume this is to draw a more lucrative customer and offer a point of difference from their rivals Myer.

Finding our way to the more reasonably priced brands the theatre and glamour are noticeably less, though still an extremely attractive shopping experience. The displays in the middle of the floor showcasing shoe highlights, are particularly inspiring.

The heel to practical shoe ratio left a little to be desired for us since we are not comfortable walking around in heels all day. We felt there was a noticeable lack of flat sandals, though they do offer Lacoste and Superga for sneaker fans.

In terms of customer service David Jones is setting new standards for retailers to aspire too, there were plenty of staff on the shop floor although there is work to be done on the levels of customer interaction.

Overall, we felt the floor was beautiful and created a great shopping experience, David Jones had clearly thought about the customer they wanted to attract and pulled out all the stops to win them.