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IIRC, Gottschalks and Macy's also swapped stores at the Fashion Faire Mall in Modesto, CA.

Modesto's mall is Vintage Fair.

J-Man wrote:

IIRC, Gottschalks and Macy's also swapped stores at the Fashion Faire Mall in Modesto, CA.

Modesto's mall is Vintage Fair.

Vintage Faire...don't forget the superfluous "e".

So I stopped by the Gottschalks / Former May Company (It was never a Robinsons-May) store at the Inland Center the other day and wow, I totally forgot how unremodeled the upper level of the store was. The (at least they look) original Stucco-looking arches, light fixtures, wood floors....how amazing this store is. The escalator bank in the middle looked a lil sad though as you look up and many of the light covers are missing, exposing the roof of the store. The Original Display cases are still tehre in the escalator area as well. I wonder what is hiding behind the walls of the basement level. The basement was only 1/2 used as a Clearance Center.

Does anyone know if this store had a restaurant? If it did, I would think it would be located on the 2nd level by the Furniture department. I didn't wander to far in that area. This place is a must stop by before they close. I wanted to take pictures but there were so many associates around in a dead store (on a Saturday). This place was much busier when it was not closing.

Through the doors, the other half of the clearance level is just open area. At one point, they had been using this area for clearance as well.

Yes, very dated areas upstairs.

The elevator is a rickety old thing!

On that other half of the clearance level, did they gut it out before they moved in? I'm sure when this store was May Co, it was all womens and maybe children. Home would have always been on 3.

It was not unusual for Gottschalks to remodel the first floor and keep the top floor of a store unremodeled. The Sacramento location, a former JCP, is remodeled on the first floor, but on the top floor, is classic 80s JCP.

I'm pretty distant in terms of my memory of the Santa Rosa Gottschalks, but my memory is the store was very much like an old Liberty House. Again, I suspect many areas were unremodeled.

This particular store, the upper level is untouched.
The Middle level has had minor remodeling.
The Lower level / Basement has had major remodeling.

So yesterday I was out in Riverside and decided to stop by the old Harris/Gottschalk at the Riverside Plaza.

This store seems to be a little bit more remodeled than I remember it. The elevators are still untouched and the upper floors seem brighter and more open than I recall. I walked around and saw on their floor plans by the elevators and noticed a lot of open space not being used on the third floor. I dont ever recall Harris having a restaurant or tea-room so most of it must have been storage area.

The stairs to the basement level were open and I was tempted to go down, but didn't. I wanted to see what was still down there.

Jeff wrote:On that other half of the clearance level, did they gut it out before they moved in? I'm sure when this store was May Co, it was all womens and maybe children. Home would have always been on 3.

I peeked in there yesterday.

Gottschalks must've used this initially, and then added the wall to create the clearance area.

The area on the other side of the wall has flooring (carpet and vinyl), and the columns are painted the same as those in the clearance area.

This ENTIRE area is a graveyard of displays/racks/etc. Possibly they pulled all those from Moreno Valley, when it closed. There is no way the San Bernardino store could've used them all!

This store is amazing. Do you know Dean if there was a restaurant initially when it was May Co. I know most if not all had a restaurant.

Jeff wrote:This store is amazing. Do you know Dean if there was a restaurant initially when it was May Co. I know most if not all had a restaurant.

I was never at this site when it was May Co...solely Gottschalks. Not sure if there ever was a restaurant.

Yet, when it opened as Gottschalks...they had a specialty chocolate area downstairs (now the clearance area). They ripped it out, but you can still see the water pipes protruding from the wall! (Behind the tall shelving with vases, luggage, etc.)

I'm only thinking that there has to be an area where there was a restaurant somewhere on the third level.

Jeff wrote:I'm only thinking that there has to be an area where there was a restaurant somewhere on the third level.

I do remember now a "bubble" that protruded on the side of the building. A funky plexi-glass thing. Wonder if that was possibly tied to a restaurant.

Looking on the south side of the building (entering from the bottom floor/clearance area), it was situated on the left end of what would appear to be the second floor.

When Gottschalks prepared to move in, the "bubble" was burst, and sealed the stucco surface they added around the edge.

I just read an article saying that the Riverside Harris store (later Gottschalks) had a Tea Room along with a toy department. I'm sure Toys was in the basement level, but the tea room had to be on the 2nd or 3rd most likely.

Dean wrote:This is a funny commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPltz2fu ... re=related

Is the building shown an old Broadway? Looks similar to the Puente Hills and Carson CA former Broadway locations.

It's the former Weinstock's (sister store of The Broadway) at Fresno's Fashion Fair mall.

Designed by Charles Luckman & Associates, there were at least 3 of these "stacked blocks" stores built for the Broadway-Hale chain: Fresno, CA (Fashion Fair - 1970), Riverside, CA (Galleria at Tyler - 1970) and Citrus Heights/Sacramento, CA (Sunrise Mall - 1972), all of which remain standing today.

The Carson, CA and Puente Hills, CA stores were modified, less eclectic versions of this design.

Below are images of the Fresno and Riverside stores just after they opened in 1970 (images courtesy of Jim Van Schaak):


Weinstock's - Fresno


The Broadway - Riverside

You can see more images of the Riverside store here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12956306@N ... 523100224/