Central CA— A vast majority of U.S. shoppers have no idea what a “Gottschalks” is. That is because Gottschalks has been the little train that could for most of its existence. It started as a small chain of department stores in the Wild West town of Fresno over 100 years ago, and grew to 58 stores.

Just like that, Gottschalks vanishes from the retail landscape. In the blink of an eye, 5,000 jobs and thousands more shoppers are left out in the cold. Some will say Gottschalks should have stayed close to home, stake its claim in the Central California region, and leave it at that. Others will say they never would have been able to compete without the retail buying power of more stores.

Nevertheless, what happened to Gottschalks is another great loss for the information industry. Broadcasters and newspapers relied heavily on Gottschalks’ advertising to generate income. In some cases, Gottschalks was the #1 advertiser, but not anymore.

It is another economic victim of our times, another significant loss with trickle-down consequences for so many in the path. One-hundred years disappears just like that. Some will say that is the cycle of business life. Many customers and employees on all sides of Gottschalks say that “stinks.”