CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Belk. It’s a name that’s synonymous with Charlotte. And as the company grew from a small store in Monroe in the 1800s to a nationally-recognized brand, the Queen City grew as well.
[ Belk, latest department store chain to cite COVID-19 woes, restructuring via Chapter 11 bankruptcy ]
Many people think the Belk family help put the city on the map, such as Charlotte historian Dan Morrill.
“Well, we would be a very different place, because Charlotte essentially emerged as a regional center,” he said.
The family’s legacy is visible throughout the city, from the department stores to college campuses to one of uptown’s most revered theaters.
“It was and is an institution,” North Carolina House Rep. Kelly Alexander Jr. said.
[ Charlotte philanthropist Sarah Belk Gambrell dies at 102 ]
Morrill says when Belk first opened its store on Trade Street, they marketed to farmers.
“The big shopping day in Charlotte back in the early 1900s was Saturday. That’s when the farmers came to town,” he said.
Over the years, the company grew from an anchor in uptown to a regional chain to a conglomerate.
John Belk served as the city’s mayor from 1969 to 1977, and is credited with helping to launch Charlotte’s airport 50 years ago, which is one of the busiest in the country now.
He is also recognized for helping build cultural and racial bridges that led the city from the “Old South” into the “New South.”
“Because he, for a long time, was the voice of the community; the tangible symbol of Charlotte,” Alexander Jr. said.
Judge approves Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan for Belk chain
A judge approved Chapter 11 bankruptcy plans for Belk on Wednesday, creating a new infusion of capital and cutting the debt load for the beleaguered department store chain.
The judge approved the plan during a hearing in Houston, The Charlotte Observer reported. The move provides the ailing chain with financial breathing room as it wrestles with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the first step in a plan in which owner Sycamore Partners transfers a large stake of the company to its lenders while maintaining control.
“This is a rare Chapter 11, your honor, where everyone wins,” Steven Serajeddini, a lawyer for Belk, told Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur at a Wednesday morning hearing.
“Nobody wanted to see a liquidation here,” Serajeddini said. Belk pledged to have no layoffs or store closures as a part of the bankruptcy. Still, filings that Belk distributed to lenders hint that cuts could come after it exits bankruptcy.
Sycamore got almost all of Belk’s creditors to approve the terms of the deal in advance in what’s known as a pre-packaged bankruptcy, according to the newspaper. Preapproval left fewer parties with the ability to raise objections and affect the bankruptcy process.
Chief Financial Officer William Langley said in a filing accompanying the bankruptcy that the COVID-19 pandemic led directly to drastic declines in sales, revenue and liquidity. Belk furloughed workers in March as the pandemic hit and cut senior staff pay up to 50% as stores temporarily closed.
In July, Belk cut an undisclosed number of jobs, mostly at its headquarters in Charlotte. The cut followed the elimination of 80 corporate jobs in February.
Belk has approximately 17,000 employees at its nearly 291 stores in 16 Southeastern states. Its corporate offices opened in 1988 in Charlotte and now have about 1,300 workers.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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