Belk

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Type	Private
Founded	1888 (Monroe, North Carolina, USA)
Headquarters	Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website	www.belk.com

Belk's flagship store at SouthPark Mall

Belk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via chain in the United States,^[1] with its stores primarily located in the Southern United States.

The chain has four flagship locations:

• SouthPark Mall, in Charlotte, North Carolina, houses the chain's largest store, with more than 330,000 square feet (31,000 m²). The store was built in 1970 as one of the mall's original anchor stores. The mall was co-developed by the Belk and Ivey families.
• Crabtree Valley Mall. in Raleigh, North Carolina, is where Belk built a similarly elaborate 251,000-square-foot (23,300 m²) store in 1972 (subsequently expanded to 320,000 square feet (30,000 m²) in 2007) in North Carolina's high-tech Research Triangle.
• The Summit, in Birmingham, Alabama, houses the third flagship, built in 1997, which opened as a Parisian store and one of the lifestyle center's original anchors. Its intended conversion to a Belk flagship was officially announced on April 25, 2007, with the reorganization complete by September 2007.
• Phipps Plaza, in Atlanta, Georgia, contains the fourth flagship, which also opened as Parisian, part of a 1992 expansion of the mall in which the store became the third mall anchor. Like the store at The Summit, it converted to a Belk by September 2007, although its conversion to flagship wasn't officially announced until November 2, 2007.

History

Founded in 1888 by Henry Belk, the store was first called "New York Racket" and then "Belk Brothers," after William Belk made his brother, John, a partner.

The business grew steadily, relying on "bargain sales" and advertising to grow the business. Today, the chain is still family-owned and currently has 306 stores in 19 states, particularly in the Carolinas,^[2] and the Atlanta metro area, which now has the largest concentration of Belk stores in any of its markets. The southernmost Belk store is located in Fort Myers, Florida. In 2006, Belk generated US$2.97 billion in sales and employed 17,900 people.

During the fourth quarter of 2005, Belk completed the sale of their private label credit card division, Belk National Bank, to GE MoneyBank. Consumers were issued new Belk credit cards replacing the old ones issued by BNB. All new Belk cards are now issued by GE Money Bank.^[2]

On July 5, 2005, Belk completed the purchase of 47 Proffitt's and McRae's department stores from Saks Incorporated. Belk converted the 39 Proffitt's and McRae's stores to the Belk nameplate on March 8, 2006.^[3] Just over a year later, Belk purchased 38 Parisian department stores from Saks on October 2, 2006. Although most Parisian stores were converted to the Belk nameplate since September 12, 2007, some Parisian stores were closed in cases of duplicate stores in developments, such as the Parisian location at The Mall at Barnes Crossing in Tupelo, Mississippi. Four stores in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, plus a store under construction at the time in Michigan, were sold by Belk to The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Belk additionally traded its newly-acquired Parisian location in Collierville, Tennessee, with Macy's, Inc. for a Macy's (former Hecht's) in Wilmington, North Carolina, during the second quarter of 2007.^[4][5]

Even as Belk has made its recent acquisitions, the chain has operated limited electronic commerce on its website, and those websites acquired and redirected to belk.com. Home furnishings such as bedding, small kitchen appliances, crystal, dinnerware, and china have been offered for several years to online shoppers, as a part of the chain's online bridal and gift registry. The chain revamped their website and registry on September 15, 2008. Celebrity-branded product lines are another pursuit, including a partnership with actress Kristin Davis for a ladies' apparel and accessories collection which debuted in fall 2008 in 125 store locations and online.^[6]

Partnership names

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Beginning in 1921 with the Leggett Bros. stores of Virginia, the Belk family formed various partnerships with other merchandisers in different markets. (This complex story is chronicled in a book^[7] about the evolution of the company.) This unusual corporate ownership structure resulted in dual or hyphened names on many of their stores. In 1998, Belk bought out or merged away this partnership structure and formed Belk, Inc. from its 112 existing Belk companies, with certain well-established partnership names allowed to remain. Some of the dual names used included:

• Belk Beck (formerly in High Point, North Carolina and Burlington, North Carolina)
• Belk Beery (formerly in Wilmington, North Carolina and Savannah, Georgia)
• Belk Broome (formerly in Hickory, NC and Spruce Pine, North Carolina)
• Belk Brumley (formerly in Newton, NC)
• Belk Daughtridge (Rocky Mount, NC)
• Belk Gallant (formerly in Atlanta, Georgia, LaGrange, Georgia and Manchester, Georgia
• Belk Hagins (formerly in Americus, Georgia and Dawson, Georgia)
• Belk Harry (Salisbury, NC)
• Belk Hensdale (formerly in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Lumberton, North Carolina, and officially, though never signed, in Laurinburg, North Carolina)
• Belk Hudson (formerly in Brunswick, Georgia, Orangeburg, South Carolina, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Palatka, Florida, Panama City, Florida, Douglas, Georgia, Huntsville, Alabama, Gadsden, Alabama, and Valdosta, Georgia)
• Belk-Jones (formerly in Texarkana, Texas; Texarkana, Arkansas, including Belk-Jones Budget-Fair (Outlet Store); and Stuttgart, Arkansas)
• Belk Leggett (formerly in Danville, Virginia and Durham, North Carolina*)
• Belk Lindsey (formerly in Florida, Puerto Rico)
• Belk McNight (Greer, SC)
• Belk Matthews (formerly in Macon, Georgia, Warner Robins, Georgia, Milledgeville, Georgia, Dublin, Georgia, Statesboro, Georgia, also in Cramerton, NC)
• Belk Rhodes (formerly in Rome, Georgia, Carrollton, Georgia and Cedartown, Georgia)
• Belk Robinson (formerly in Charleston, SC)
• Belk Schrum (Lincolnton, NC)
• Belk Simpson (formerly in Athens, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, and Hendersonville, North Carolina
• Belk Stevens (Winston-Salem, NC and Burlington, NC)
• Belk Tyler (formerly in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Elizabeth City, North Carolina and other parts of northeastern North Carolina).
• Belk Williams (Clinton, NC)
• Belk Yates (formerly in Asheboro, North Carolina, Thomasville, North Carolina, Elkin, North Carolina and Siler City, North Carolina)
• Gallant Belk (Anderson, South Carolina, Elberton, Georgia)
• Hudson Belk (still used in The Triangle)
• Kirkpatrick-Belk (York, SC)
• Leggett (formerly in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Delaware)
• Matthews Belk (still used at the Gastonia, NC location)
• Parks Belk (formerly in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia)
• Stephenson Belk (Rockingham, NC)
• White-Parks-Belk (Spartanburg, SC)
• Williams Belk (Sanford, NC)

* The Belk Leggett in Durham was changed to a Hudson Belk and has since closed.

References

External links

• Belk