Editing Gottschalks (section)

==Becoming successful==

Gottschalks gained success by locating only in smaller cities that could not support full-size national department stores. This tactic kept Gottschalks' overhead low by allowing it to build smaller (80,000- to 110,000-square-foot), single-level stores with lower real estate costs. More often than not, it also made Gottschalks "the only game in town", with virtually no competition from other national department stores.

The chief executives of Gottschalks, Inc. following the death of Emil Gottschalk:
# Henry Korn (brother in law)
# Abe Blum (sole nephew)
# Irving Levy (wife's nephew by marriage)
# Joseph Levy (son of Irving Levy)
# James Famalette (no relation)

Presidents/chief operating officers who served after Irving Levy's death in 1981:
# Gerald Blum (grand nephew and son of Abe Blum)
# Stephen Furst (no relation)
# James Famalette (no relation)

Abe Blum (died 1963) had a degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers University, and was responsible for installing one of Fresno's first air conditioning systems and was among the first retailers in the area to accept bank [[credit card]]s. According to a 1977 ''Chain Store Age Executive'' article, in 1976 Gottschalks became America's first department store to totally automate sales transactions. The company installed electronic [[point of sale]] (POS) "wands" that read bar codes and store credit cards. This technology helped increase efficiency, reduce errors, and keep inventory and customer billing up to date.