Gottschalks NYSE: GOT is a middle-tier American department store. Gottschalks has
63 stores and 10 specialty stores, 60 run as Harris-Gottschalks stores, in six
western states (California, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada.) It
is the largest independently-owned department store in the United States.
Gottschalks
was founded by German Jewish immigrant Emil Gottschalk in 1904
in Fresno, California. The company opened its first branch store in 1961. It
was around this time that grand-nephew Irving Levy, whose father had helped found
the company, took control. In an effort to win over teenage baby-boomers, Gottschalks
launched Bobbie West, a chain of junior apparel stores, in the late 1960s.
Village East shops, which offered large-sized women's clothing, were launched
in 1970.
Irving Levy served as president until his death in 1980
at age 86, guiding Gottschalks' growth into a chain of six department stores
and over a dozen specialty boutiques with over $80 million in annual sales. |
