MARYSVILLE — Jeans and T-shirts, towels and blenders — they were all marked down at the Marysville Gottschalks on Tuesday.
Get ‘em while you can. Prices like these last only as long as bankruptcy rulings allow.
The store is liquidating its merchandise, “going out of business,” as the four-foot lettering on the banner outside puts it.
“When I drove up and saw that banner, I was like: ‘Oh, no. Not another store,’” said customer Carmen Peddy, a Marysville resident who stopped in to shop for bargains Tuesday.
The closure means more empty retail space. More lost jobs and fewer shopping options. And for some loyal customers, it means a longer commute to malls in Everett or Bellingham.
But most shoppers weren’t crying over their credit cards Tuesday as they picked through discounted merchandise. Most were pleased to see markdowns as high as 60 percent — $22 jeans, $15 dresses, $25 shoes.
Some said it was nice to finally get a price break in tough times. But it’s a break that Fresno-based Gottschalks had to file for bankruptcy to bring about.
The retail chain filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January and then finally moved to shutter its 58 stores last week. According to the court-approved agreement, the company has until July 15 to liquidate merchandise.
“Despite all our efforts at earnest negotiations, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors, lenders and bidders to structure a going concern bid by the Court-imposed deadline,” Gottschalks CEO Jim Famalette said in a statement. “Regrettably, liquidation is now the only path for our company.”
He added: “We are deeply disappointed with this outcome and the impact it will have on our employees, customers, business partners and the communities we have served for 105 years.”
The “going out of business” banner went up on the Marysville store early Tuesday morning. When doors opened at 10 a.m., clearance signs were already suspended from the ceiling and plastered on clothing racks.
Only one small section of the store was cleared. But a sales clerk said it’s likely to just be weeks until the store looks ransacked and bare.
Employees weren’t allowed to comment on the store’s closure. But some said they weren’t hopeful about entering the job market after liquidation ends this summer.
“This is very sad,” said Lorinda Klein of Marysville, a customer on her way into the Marysville Town Center mall Tuesday. “I’m their best customer. So I’m going to miss them terribly.”
Last October, Gottschalks was taken off the New York Stock Exchange due to falling stock prices and low market capitalization.
The company has struggled for some time, particularly in the Puget Sound area. In 2000, Gottschalks acquired the Seattle-based Lamonts retail chain, but most of those locations closed after a few profitless years.
Gottschalks is closing all seven stores in Washington, along with dozens of others in California, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
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