Gottschalks same store sales for the month of April 2005 increased 1.9% from the prior year. Total sales for the month increased 3.0% to $43.4 million from $42.1 million in April 2004. On a year-to-date basis, same store sales decreased 0.6 % from the same period of the prior year. Total sales for the year-to-date period decreased slightly by 0.3% to $144.1 million compared to $144.5 million for the same period of fiscal 2004. In the month of April the Company opened one new store in Albany, Oregon and closed its Fig Garden store in Fresno, California.

Jim Famalette, president and chief executive officer of Gottschalks, said, “We are pleased with our sales for the month, which came in slightly above our plan. In April our best performing areas were women's better sportswear, special sizes, shoes and our home store division. Additionally, we successfully opened our third store in Oregon on April 15th. We are excited about entering this new market in Oregon as it allows us to further strengthen our geographic reach on the West Coast. We ended the first quarter with comp store inventory 2% below the same period last year. We are tracking to our plan thus far in 2005, and believe we are currently on course to achieve our stated guidance for the year.”


    Sales results are summarized as follows:

                                                                  Same Store
                          April 30,      May 1,       Total %       Sales %
                            2005          2004       Increase      Increase
                                (in 000's)

    Sales, 4 Weeks Ended   $43,421      $42,146         3.0%         1.9%

    Sales, 13 Weeks Ended $144,126    $ 144,534       (0.3%)       (0.6%)