Gottschalks Inc. announced that same store sales for the month of February 2007 decreased 3.6% compared to the prior year. Total sales for the month decreased 3.8% to $42.6 million from $44.3 million in February 2006. The company operated three fewer stores than in the comparable period last year.
Jim Famalette, president and CEO of Gottschalks, said, “We experienced softness in our home store merchandise in February and continue to focus on improving our merchandise and marketing strategies for this division. Our sales for the month also reflect the shift of a major cosmetics event that was held in February last year but will be held in March this year. Our best performing merchandise areas during February were shoes, dresses, and better sportswear. We ended the month with comparable inventory levels up 1.7%.”
Gottschalks is a regional department store chain, currently operating 60 department stores and 5 specialty apparel stores in six western states, including California (38), Washington (8), Alaska (6), Oregon (4), Nevada (2) and Idaho (2).
