Retail chain's fall leaves void in Western towns

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/05/financial/f141702D02.DTL

Florine McNeal of Fresno walks out of Gottschalks in Manchester Center in Fresno after doing some shopping there Friday, April 3, 2009. The longtime shopper is sad to see the chain is shutting down all of its stores around the western U.S. (Craig Kohlruss / AP)


By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, April 5, 2009
(04-05) 14:17 PDT Fresno, Calif. (AP) --

Gottschalks, a regional retailer with 58 stores anchoring main streets in far-flung towns across the West, has been turned over to a team of liquidators after 105 years in business.
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Last week, they began selling off the chain's collection of mid-priced clothing, household goods and fixtures to satisfy debt.

To many small West Coast towns, the loss is immeasurable. From tiny Soldotna, Alaska, where Gottschalks is one of the city's biggest tax generators, to Oakhurst in the Sierra foothills, where seniors flock to discount Tuesdays, the liquidation reverberates.

"We have a lot of seniors who come in for the discount and make a day of it," said Raymond Peck, who has worked 15 years for Gottschalks.

The company's demise, said sales associate Donna Putnam, "is like a death in the family."

Gottschalks bought the former Ford's Department Store in Watsonville, Calif., after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake ravaged downtown. After the 10-week liquidation sale, the largest downtown retailer left in the farm community will be Goodwill.

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Gina Vance's first job 31 years ago was in Gottschalks fabric department, which paid her way through Fresno State University's teaching program. She never left the company.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd stay here so long," said Vance, manager of the chain's Manchester Center store, where senior citizens still meet for birthday lunches in the restaurant. "It's been a heck of a good ride."

[izquierdista]

1. It was really too upscale

I liked their merchandise, but for poor third world peasants (which is what Americans are post-Dubya) a second hand store where they sell clothing by weight is more appropriate.

[KT2000]

2. Two Walmarts

is what my community will have left after they close.

[JI7]

3. i went to a walmart yesterday

they really don't have anything i like. everything seems cheap and crappy. and the store just seems unorganized and messy.

i feel the opposite when i go to target and want to buy everything.

but i have had people tell me target is expensive so maybe that's why people shop at walmart . they could get better used clothes at a goodwill or similar type place than walmart.

[47of74]

5. I worked at a Wally world for a couple years

And I've had enough of that damn place to last the rest of my life. I've only been in a Wal-Mart once in the past five years, and a Sams Club once.

[KT2000]

6. I think that Walmart

looks and feels like a department store that a government would come up with. Like you say, it is disorganized and everything is crappified.
My last purchase there was a pencil sharpener that when used properly, dumped the shavings out of the receptacle through a hole! They had to have worked hard to figure out how to do that!
It is just a depressing store.

[JI7]

8. the biggest reason people give for why they shop at WalMart is they have no other choices

nothing else is as close to them. i think a big part of why WalMart does well is because they run everyone else out of business.

[KT2000]

10. Exactly!!

They came into two neighboring towns and ran the fabric and craft stores out of business. Now they are planning to quit carrying fabrics and crafts which leaves us with just the internet. Unfortunately i need fabric for my work.

[JI7]

16. yup, they start out by doing better so they can get customers

it lasts only as long as others are run out of business. once that happens they get cheaper and crappier and by then the people have no more choices to them.

[EFerrari]

9. The lighting in those stores is horrible and guaranteed to depress people.

[KT2000]

11. That's what it is!

The lighting is awful.
They also control the temperature of their stores from Arkansas. It's about 92 degrees in ours during the winter.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. "looks and feels like a department store that a government would come up with"

great comment. :fistbump:

[tularetom]

4. More than 50 years ago my mom used to haul our butts to Gottschalk's for school clothes

It was her one big spending spree of the year. At the time there was only one store (in downtown Fresno) and it was about a 45 minute drive for us in the hot August sun with no air conditioning in the car. I was never thrilled about having to go.

As time went by I appreciated Gottschalk's. Nordstroms or Macy's was never going to build in a two bit backasswards area like this so Gottschalk's was for many years the closest thing we had to a real department store. My wife bought school clothes for our kids there and our daughter did for her kids also. My granddaughter even worked there for a few months after graduating from high school.

For the past ten years I rarely went in there. But I'm sorry to see them go. I think they tried to get too big too fast. If they'd stayed local they would not have falleen on such hard times.

[blindersoff]

7. I live on the north Olympic peninsula in Washington state

a gorgeous, and very sparsely populated area, which I moved to from San Diego, a very crowded and crazy city. I wouldn't trade the peace and quiet for anything, but the only mall in the area is 65 miles away and the "department stores" in our area are a tiny Penneys in Sequim and Gottschalks in Port Angeles. I went to Gottschalks there today to see what I could get... nothing was really marked down too much yet, but I did find a purse and some towels (both of which I really needed). I really avoid going to Walmart -- it just seems cheap cheap cheap to me.

I feel really badly for the people here who will lose their jobs; Port Angeles is a lumber and fishing town and the economy sucked even before this. I work at a small public hospital (see 60 Minutes tonight) and my hours have already been cut to 80%.

[CreekDog]

12. i love the Olympic Peninsula

one of the most beautiful places i've ever been to. the cool and long rainy season is a blessing that keeps it from turning into Phoenix.

i'm sorry to hear about your loss of work hours. :(

[KT2000]

13. Me too!

Sequim here :hi:

[blindersoff]

18. Dungeness here.. . by the Game Farm

We got a huge deal when we bought our home here compared to San Diego;only hoping we can keep it with my work hours less and my husband (who is a perdiem nurse) getting cancelled more and more.

[KT2000]

20. Hey neighbor

hang in there. I've been here about 25 years. This is a place where one has to make up a "line of work" sometimes. I do sewing and writing.
For example, I know a fellow who had great success watching after an elderly friend. She had a turnaround after living with his diet and exercise plan. She went from not being able to walk to taking daily walks. Now this man and his wife are in great demand from the wealthy people around here - there are many tucked away. He is not a physical therapist either.

Networking by joining organizations may open new opportunities.
Wishing you the best - because the way this area can change a person is good for the soul!

[blindersoff]

21. maybe we even know each other...

my husband and I moved here 5 years ago after leaving the University of Calif, San Diego. We are also potters and up until last year had a booth at the Open Aire Market. He is now exhibiting at the Blue Whole and I have not had time to get my hands into clay since I started work at OMC. Maybe we'll meet sometime; it's a small town. Andi

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. As a Los Angeleno, it's weird to hear someone called San Diego "crowded and crazy'

San Diego's like the wide open prairie compared to LA. :-)

[blindersoff]

19. that may be true...

but the whole "drive, stop, go, get flipped off, try to find a parking place, have to leave 2 hours early to get someplace on time" etc. was too wearing for me. I lived in SD for 32 years and saw it go from a medium sized city to what it is now; in 2004 we wanted to retire to a more peaceful life around friendlier and more simple people, and it was exactly the right time and thing to do. I could never live in LA; when we went on vacations we would leave home at 2:00 a.m. to avoid some of the traffic. I will say, though that when we moved here I didn't realize that this part of Washington is quite red and we have quite a few pretty conservative people.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. No, you would not survive living in LA. lol. n/t

[blindersoff]

24. and definitely wouldn't want to...

eom

[upi402]

15. Would the last one out please turn out the lights? n/t

[XemaSab]

22. Gottschalk's is the only real clothing store in Oakhurst

People will have to drive an hour to Fresno to buy clothes. :(