Myer's Joondalup store 'locked and loaded' Myer CEO Bernie Brookes. MYER'S long-awaited Joondalup store is "locked and loaded" despite the retailer today announcing it would review all stores nationally. Chief executive Bernie Brookes today reaffirmed WA's strong retail market saying it, along with fellow mining state Queensland, was the best performing state for the first-half of 2013. But as the company announced just a 1 per cent increase in profit to $88 million for the period, Mr Brookes told investors that Myer would be "reviewing the ongoing merits of all existing and planned stores." However, that does not include the department store's proposed Joondalup store, according to Mr Brookes, who said the addition was "locked and loaded." "We are looking forward to opening a store in Joondalup," Mr Brookes told reporters. There are no plans to close any stores in WA and certainly Joondalup is quite exciting from our point of view. Mr Brookes said construction on the Joondalup store would begin early next year and was expected to be completed by in 2015. "The actual sod has been turned so the store has been formally started but it is early next year before they formally get into the building," he said. The northern suburbs store was first flagged by the Myer in 2010 and was originally supposed to open by 2014. Lend Lease recently started work on its $300 million expansion of Lakeside Joondalup Shopping Centre, which includes the Myer store. In another good sign for retail in WA, Mr Brookes said the company had not lost any customers when it closed its Fremantle store in January. Fremantle had been underperforming for the company for sometime, and represented just 0.4 per cent of overall sales for Myer, according to Mr Brookes. But the chief said they were genuinely surprised how well customers had transitioned to the Myer's other WA stores - such as the nearby Garden City. "We have had a good increase, in fact our best performing store in Western Australia has been Garden City and the reason its out best performing store is the move from Fremantle with the help of the Myer One data has been significant," he said. All Fremantle customers with a Myer One offer that provided them an incentive to shop at nearby stores and that has certainly been reflected in Western Australia being our best performing region and Garden City our best performing store Really pleased we have been able to transfer those Shares in Myer were up almost 5 per cent this morning after reporting its Myer shares jumped almost 5 per cent this morning after posting its better than expected profit. The national retailer's net profit of $87.9 million in the first-half was up one per cent from $87.3 million in the previous corresponding period. Analysts were expecting a net profit of about $85 million. Myer shares surged by as much as 18 cents in early trade, and at 1105 AEDT were up 7.5 cents, or 2.6 per cent, at $2.975. Mr Brookes said the result reflected a well planned and executed Christmas and sales period. But Mr Brookes said he would not give any guidance on the second half of the year due to uncertain external factors such as the upcoming federal election and the state of the US economy. "We do remain cautious despite growing both our net profit and sales in the first half," he said. IG Markets market strategist Evan Lucas said Myer's result was impressive, and said it was intriguing that Mr Brookes was not prepared to give guidance. "Guidance was also a major stock mover in earnings season as it gave investors a gauge to compare the company," he said. However, considering the choppy nature of retail currently, this is a savvy move by Bernie Brooks as it will mean investors will have to base investment decisions on historical figures and broker estimates. Myer's comparable sales in the first half were up 1.4 per cent from to the previous corresponding period. Myer has completed its exit from whitegoods, gaming and CDs and DVDs, and reallocated floor space to fashion. Mr Brookes said the retailer's investment in customer service was showing results with customer complaints about the lack of staff in its stores down by 30 per cent during the half.