Melbourne, Australia - December 26, 2016: A man and woman walk past the David Jones store at Bourke Street Mall. The department store was open for Boxing Day sales.

In a major blow to Australia’s department store sector, David Jones has confirmed it will be letting go of more than a hundred staff. 

Department store giant David Jones on Tuesday confirmed plans to let go of 120 jobs across its head office and some retail stores.

The move will see 30 head office staff and 90 store employees made redundant.

The job cuts will form “a very small percentage” of the workforce, the department store said.

In a statement a David Jones spokesperson said the changes were made to achieve greater alignment between its team, strategic priorities and initiatives of the business.

“They reflect our strong focus on cost at a challenging time for retail, and will enable continued investment and innovation in-store.

“These changes will not impact our customer experience in any way and are primarily focused on a limited number of stores, where we have plans to optimise and change our offering including through right-sizing store footprints and more focussed store curation. We remain committed to further customer service initiatives across all of our channels, and we continue to invest significantly in training and systems to enhance the customer experience wherever our customers choose to shop.

“These changes have not been made lightly and affect a very small percentage of our workforce. We have prioritised redeployment options where possible and are now focused on assisting impacted team members with transitional support.”