It's official... Fresno-based Gottschalk's failed to attract a buyer at its auction and will begin liquidating. Gottschalk's assets have been sold to a group of liquidators and the going out of business-sales will begin around April 3rd.
Malls affected by the store closures include Capitola Mall in Capitola, West Valley Mall in Tracy, Sherwood Mall in Stockton, Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto, Country Club Plaza Mall in Sacramento, Somersville Towne Center in Antioch, Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa, and Carson Mall in Carson City, NV.
Later, a closer look at the store closures.
Scott
2 comments:
Initially, I'm guessing that any single-story Gottschalks in a mall that is otherwise strong will be easy to fill, though perhaps not with a department store. Same goes for small town strip mall locations.
The tough ones will be the multi-level locations. There's really only two retailers now who I'd see as interested in them: JC Penney or Macys, but in many cases they already have stores in the same mall or nearby. Kohl's could be an option provided the space isn't too large(and again, if they don't have another location close by)
If the economy were better, this would be a great opportunity for Dillards to enter the Central Valley, which is very similar to many of their markets in the South. However, if the economy WERE better, Gottschalks would likely not be closing. Time will tell.
I know you normally don't cover Fresno, but I think you should make an exception since Gottschalks was based there. The Fashion Fair and River Park locations were the flagships of the chain, and I have to think that if any major retailer wanted to "roll the dice" in this economy, that those two locations would warrant it.
Unfortunately, most of Gottschalks market was in the Valley, which took some of the strongest hits in the real estate market. For that reason alone, most Gottschalks locations will probably stay shuttered for some time to come.
Hey, BMR...I hate to be an annoyance, but it would be kind of cool to see some more mall directory scans. Do you have any of FALLBROOK MALL? That would be cool...
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