After more than a century of business on the West Coast, retailer Gottschalks will be closing its doors.
On March 31, Gottschalks officials announced that, after holding a court-supervised auction, the company had been purchased by a liquidation group.
“Despite all our efforts at earnest negotiations, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors, lenders, and bidders to structure a going concern bid by the court-imposed deadline,” Gottschalks CEO James Famalette said in a release to the media. “Regrettably, liquidation is now the only path for our company.”
Gottschalks joined the ranks of Mervyns and Circuit City when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. The company has 69 stores in six states, including one in San Luis Obispo and one in Santa Maria.
On April 3, Gottschalks closed its corporate headquarters in Fresno. Following the closure, the Fresno County Workforce Investment Board opened a temporary employment center to help the 300 laid-off employees search for new jobs.
Also on April 3, Gottschalks employees working in the Santa Maria Town Center received layoff notices the same day they were told to begin the liquidation sale, store manager Jason Lewis said in an interview with the Sun. Lewis declined to comment further on the company’s liquidation.
German immigrant Emil Gottschalk opened the first Gottschalks in downtown Fresno in 1904. The Santa Maria Gottschalks opened in the 1970s, followed by the San Luis Obispo Gottschalks in the mid-1980s.
This article appears in Apr 9-16, 2009.