Charla Davis

Over the past 90 years, Gottschalks has been a department store dedicated to providing shoppers with the best quality customer service in the business. The company prides itself on the great value and competitive prices it offers customers, along with the large selection of high quality brand-name merchandise.

I had an opportunity to join the dedicated team at Gottschalks and experience this service first hand while working as an intern at the Gottschalks store in Fairbanks, Alaska. I was amazed with the organization, as well as the direction of the internship program, where I felt that I was a valuable asset to the store. Throughout my internship, I had the opportunity to assist with many of the important procedures involved in managing and operating a department store.

In 1904 Gottschalks was founded by German immigrant Emil Gottschalk. Today, what began as a 10,000 square foot dry-goods store in Fresno has evolved into a chain with 66 department stores and 12 specialty stores throughout California, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada. In 1998 Gottschalks acquired the nine-store chain of Harris Department Stores. The company continued to expand and grow over the next few years, and in 2000 Gottschalks acquired the 34-store Lamonts chain, adding stores in three new states. To this day, Gottschalks remains the largest independently owned department store chain based in California.

Over the 10 short weeks of my internship at Gottschalks, I gained a wonderful perspective on the retail industry as I worked with the merchandising, visual, and management teams in the store. Each day I assisted in a different department, which gave me an insightful perspective to the many responsibilities involved in running a department store.

During the last few weeks of my time at Gottschalks I improved vastly upon my leadership skills as I helped to manage and merchandise the children’s department. Most of all, I learned what retail is all about: how to serve the customer. I witnessed first hand how Gottschalks has truly lived up to its company motto, which is “the store that cares.” This vision is not only stressed with the customers, but it is also voiced regularly among sales associates and the management team.

I was very impressed with the positive work environment at Gottschalks, which made the store not only an enjoyable place for me to do my internship, but also provided a great shopping experience for customers. Throughout my time at Gottschalks I learned important skills that I know will help me later should I pursue a career in retail management. n

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