The Fresno, Calif.-based 82-store chain says it will close four stores in the Seattle-Metro area, one in Wenatchee, Wash. and one in Corvallis, Ore. The likely Seattle-area closures will be West Seattle, Issaquah, Burien and Lake Forest Park. A company representative was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Gottschalks describes its cost-cutting effort as "a 5-Point Strategic and Financial Positioning Plan designed to strengthen the Company's financial structure and position the West Coast department store retailer for stable long-term growth." The company says the plan will improve liquidity and reduce the Company's debt by approximately $37million.
"Our objective is to strengthen Gottschalks' position in key western markets, generate opportunities for new stores and achieve our long-term growth objectives," said company CEO Jim Famalette in the company's announcement. "Our plan is to open two new stores per year, similar to our past practice prior to our acquisition in 2000."
There are no new stores planned this year, said Famalette, "but we do have several California locations targeted and expect to finalize our growth plans for 2004 later this year."
As part of the plan, the company also announced this week it has completed the sale of its private label credit card operations to Household's retail services business. The sale agreement includes the servicing of the Company's more than one million credit card accounts that generate annual credit card sales of more than $300 million.
"This partnership will enable us to reduce our financial risk, make the most of our invested capital and focus exclusively on Gottschalks' core retail business," said Famalette.
Gottschalks currently operates sixty-nine department stores and thirteen specialty apparel stores in six western states, including California (39), Washington (17), Alaska (6), Oregon (3), Nevada (2) and Idaho (2). The company's share price stood at $1.55 in afternoon trading today (Tuesday, Feb, 4), up $0.08 on the day. The company's 52-week low of $1.17 occurred on Oct. 8. Its 52-week high of $3.88 occurred on March 26.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
