Gottschalks Reviews

Pros

Friendly staff, great benefits, opportunities to move up within the company. Management was always very encouraging and supportive. They worked with employees flexible schedules.

Cons

Information about the insecurity within the company should have been shared with the employees sooner so they could have made preparations to find a new job before bankruptcy went into effect.

Advice to Senior Management

Gottschalks should not have grown so fast. No one predicted the downturn of the economy but if the department store stayed small, limited to 10 to 15 stores, the company might have survived.

Pros

Good discount
Great managment
Not a competitive environment

Cons

on your feet all day
commision isnt much at all
Pretty high sales goals

Advice to Senior Management

I worked there a long time ago...they were doing a great job back then.

Pros

family friendly environement, flexible people.

Cons

insane management who contradicted themselves weekly

Advice to Senior Management

get real

Pros

Fun, smaller retailer. I was able to put my own touches on my areas of responsability.

Cons

Being a smaller department store we should have been able to adjust quicker to trends than the big boys,however we seemed to react slower.

Advice to Senior Management

React!

Pros

Excellent associates and managers within the store. Local store was able to be creative with merchandising and display set up.

Cons

No support from corporate. Too many mistakes and last minute ad changes. Often shipped us what they thought we should sell, not what the customer wanted, even when we had explained our customers needs.

Advice to Senior Management

Too late now. The company is out of business. Overall, it was a very nice company to work for the past nine years. district manager level was receptive and good to work with.

Pros

The fact that Gottschalks was a full department store located in small towns made it a good choice for many employees.

Cons

Poor management and lack of growth potential made Gottschalks a sub-par place of employment. The value of the dollar was more important than customer service or their employees, which was one reason for their failure.

Advice to Senior Management

Superior customer service and quality products are the foundations to a successful company. At one time Gottschalks knew this and the company grew and thried. Those who forgot, destroyed the company.

Pros

Career advancement. One can join with the company at the bottom and work their way to the position of their choice with tenacity and desire.

Cons

Salary compensation seems lower than the industry average. Vacation time is constantly being denied for work reasons. Do not expect merit raises in a given year. The bonuses are set with little regard to reality... turn expectation is unrealistic. Health benefits are extremely pricey, while coverage is going down.

Advice to Senior Management

I despise the way department plans are handled. This process needs to be revamped with regard to reality and the frequent revisions are a consuming waste of time.