Gottschalks April Comps Down 5.4%

Gottschalks Inc. same store sales for the month of April 2007 decreased 5.4% from the prior year. Total sales for the month decreased 6.9% to $40.3 million from $43.3 million in April 2006. On a year-to-date basis, same store sales decreased 0.8% from the same period of the prior year. Total sales for the year-to-date period decreased by 1.2% to $141.8 million compared to $143.5 million for the same period of fiscal 2006. The Company operated five fewer stores for the month and the quarter compared to the same periods last year.

Jim Famalette, president and chief executive officer of Gottschalks said, “While the Easter shift negatively impacted our sales in April, we achieved a 1% comparable store sales increase for the combined March and April period. Our best performing merchandise categories during April were shoes, special sizes, dresses and women's moderate sportswear. We have experienced strong performances in shoes and dresses throughout the first quarter. We are particularly pleased with the results generated in our shoe department as we are continuing to see positive results from our refixturing program.”

    Sales results are summarized as follows:

                                                                  Same Store
                              May 5,       April 29,    Total %     Sales %
                               2007          2006       Change      Change
                                   (in 000's)

    Sales, 4 Weeks Ended      $40,266       $43,258      (6.9%)     (5.4%)

    Sales, 13 Weeks Ended    $141,788      $143,512      (1.2%)     (0.8%)