By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Forever 21, a trendy Los Angeles-based clothing store, has run into trouble in its bid to take over a Gottschalks location in Santa Maria vacated by that company’s bankruptcy.

Officials behind the company that owns Santa Maria’s Town Center have objected to Forever 21 because they say the property’s lease agreements say that the former Gottschalks space can only be used for a department store.

“Town Center does object … to Forever 21 — a specialty retailer with targeted appeal reaching only a limited demographic — assuming a premier in-line anchor space” intended for a department store, attorneys for Town Center Streetscape said, according to a report in the Fresno Bee.

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