David Jones shopper makes stomach-churning find in food hall: 'Oh my God'
Struggling department store David Jones could see even fewer shoppers after a disgusting find was made in one of the chain's food halls in the Sydney CBD. Caught on camera by a shopper keen to check out the retailer's Christmas decorations, a "family" of rats was seen helping themselves to treats on display.
"I love seeing the David Jones Christmas window displays each year and after a late dinner, I decided to stop in and check them out on Elizabeth Street with some friends," local comedian and DJ Matt Hey told Yahoo News Australia. "But I could hardly focus on the actual window displays because I was horrified to find multiple rats running through the store.
He added that it didn't take him long to notice them at all, "seeing as they were so active, running around acting like they owned the place!"
In a video Matt took of the food hall from the street above, he and his friends can be heard gasping each time a rat runs by. "Oh no," he exclaims as a rat bolts out from underneath a Christmas tree. "The whole family's out to play," he adds amid gasps from fellow shoppers as a rodent scurries under the tree.
Zooming out to show more of the food hall, Matt continues to narrate the scene. "Wow David Jones has really stepped up their window displays this year, haven't they?" he says, when suddenly someone in the background spots another rat.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Matt says as he films a rat moving underneath a table and stools before he realises it has something in its mouth. "A Lindt ball," he says, panning over to a display of chocolate, "it's one of the Lindt balls."
"Turns out a creature was stirring and it was a mouse," Matt jokes at the end of the clip, in reference to a line from the classic Christmas poem, A Visit from St Nicholas.
In reaction to the video, David Jones told Yahoo News Australia it has regular pest management and control processes in place, and has increased measures to ensure a clean and safe environment.
Rats horrify shoppers
The TikTok video has since gone viral, with viewers sharing their horror at the scene. "Oh my God, I am never picking a Lindt ball out from there again," one person wrote. "I'm never walking into David Jones ever again," responded another. "That's it, I'm switching to Myer," someone else joked.
However, others argued it was no big deal. "It's basically every building in the CBD after dark," one viewer wrote, while another added, "If you don't think this happens everywhere, you're kidding yourselves."
Indeed, it's far from the first time a Sydney shop has had a rodent problem. In 2022, a shopper filmed a large rat scurrying across the food court at Westfield Parramatta, and rodents were filmed running through the aisles of a Chemist Warehouse store in Newtown.
"I know Sydney CBD is infested with rats," Matt told Yahoo News, "but to see them running through David Jones was hysterical. Even the most glamorous looking department stores have to deal with rats.
"I don't think the rats caused too much harm, but I will say, they were much more entertaining than the ACTUAL window displays!"
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