Gottschalks relaunch pushed back until spring

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Plans to resurrect the Gottschalks department store chain, including returning to its former site in the Carson Mall, are being postponed from next month until spring, the new company's chairman says.

Joe Levy, a former chief executive of the now-defunct regional retailer and the great-nephew of its founder, said Friday it's been harder to line up financing than he anticipated in April when he announced he would open a new series of department stores in cities where Gottschalks had been operating when it went bankrupt last year.

Levy said he now intends to open three or four Gottschalks by Joe Levy stores in the spring 2011, with shopping centers in Clovis, Oakhurst, Auburn and Carson City, Nev., being eyed as locations.

Missing the busy holiday shopping season will be a disappointment but not a deal-breaker, he said.

"We're certainly sorry to miss that, but it will probably give us sort of a breathing spell to balance our merchandise to see what sells best," Levy said. "November 2010 was a really tight push."

Industry experts told The Modesto Bee the delay could work in Levy's favor by giving investors and consumers more time to recover from the recession.

"It's understandable in this economic environment," retail consultant James Tenser, head of VSN Strategies in Tucson, Ariz., said of Levy's difficulty in lining up investors. The plan has many reasons to succeed, Tenser said.

"Mr. Levy may be a unique case," he added. "You've got a real veteran who's taking a brand with considerable equity and trying to return it to the marketplace."

Before the bankruptcy, Gottschalks had 58 stores across the West.