Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Gottschalk's - A Goner?


Gottschalk's of Fresno filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday morning. The chain had put itself on the market in late 2006, but has not found any interested suitors.

Gottschalk's has stores at Antioch's Somersville Towne Center, Capitola's Capitola Mall, Carson City's Carson Mall, Modesto's Vintage Faire Mall, Sacramento's Country Club Plaza Mall, Santa Rosa's Coddingtown Mall, Stockton's Sherwood Mall, and Tracy's West Valley Mall. Both Capitola Mall and Somersville Towne Center just lost their fourth anchor, Mervyn's, last year.

As with many retailer bankruptcies, unprofitable stores are usually closed. If Gottschalk's was to close any of the above mall locations, we could easily see devastating results. Somersville Towne Center, Captiola Mall, Carson Mall, and Country Club Plaza Mall may all go under. Sherwood Mall and Coddingtown Mall would be seriously threatened. However, Vintage Faire Mall and West Valley Mall ought to be strong enough to survive.

Gottschalk's was forced out of its Danville Blackhawk Plaza location in 2006, which was its deepest penetration into the highly competitive Bay Area market.

Time will tell what Gottschalk's next move will be. Stay tuned for the latest

Scott

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't agree about closing Gottchalk's being a death sentence for Country Club Plaza.

Although it has never thrived, that center is in a good neighborhood and the right replacement could be just what it needs.

Anonymous said...

Let's not be so pesimistic about Gottschalks' survival. Check out my new Facebook site, "Save Gottschalks!"

Anonymous said...

There are Gottschalk's stores in Elk Grove, Davis, and Woodland, all of which are generally considered part of the Sacramento region.

Anonymous said...

Gottshalks recieved $125 million in financing on 1/18/09

my thinking is if they received funding in Febuary, they wont be closing in March as planned