Round one ended in bankruptcy. The challenge in round two for the new Gottschalk brand is to establish itself as an independent, specialized store when it opens November first.
The company has been re-packaged as Gottschalk by Joe Levy. Levy said, "It's sort of like the phoenix rising out of the ashes."
Levy is counting on shoppers to stay true to the Gottschalk name. Levy said, "A lot of retail dollars out there that are looking for a home and we're going to try to supply that."
58 stores closed when Gottschalks went bankrupt. Levy said it's important the company starts small with stores in Clovis, Oakhurst and Auburn.
New CEO Bob Wiser said, "We don't have the saddle of unprofitable stores. We're only opening ones that have a successful history."
Retail Analyst Howard Davidowitz calls it a wise strategy. Davidowitz said, "You're not running a huge group of stores. You know the price point, you know what your clients can afford."
Davidowitz says Gottschalk by Joe Levy has a reasonable chance to prosper. "The whole key is to not act like a big guy but to act like a little but to do all the special things that those big institutional retailers will not do."
Levy says company mistakes won't be repeated. He explained, "It got top-heavy. The bureaucracy just got too heavy to support what was above it. We're going to be very thin."
Levy says he'll stick to the principles established by his great-uncle Emil Gottschalk who founded the company in 1904.
Levy said, "If you take care of the customer, give them what they want at a fair value you'll do very well."
The new store will be called "Gottschalk" with no "s" at the end. Levy said he did not want to infringe on the original store name.
