Belk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (December 2007) |
| Belk, Inc. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 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 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 numerous partnerships and acquisitions over more than a century. The partnership-based corporations, numbering more than 100, were consolidated in 1998 into a single corporation based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the company continues to be based. Belk is currently the largest privately held department store 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. 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 store in 1972 (subsequently expanded to 320,000 square feet 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.[2]
- 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.[2]
In 2008, a fifth flagship location will be constructed at Richmond Centre, located in Richmond, Kentucky. The 85,300 square foot location will be the chain's northernmost flagship.
Contents |
[edit] History
Founded in 1888 by William 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 more than 315 stores in 19 states, particularly in the Carolinas.[3] 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.[3]
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.[4]
Belk purchased 38 Parisian department stores from Saks Incorporated on October 2, 2006. Although most Parisian stores have been converted to the Belk namplate since September 12, 2007, several Parisian stores are slated to close or have been closed. Four stores in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, plus a store under construction 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.[5][6]
[edit] Partnership names
 |
This article or section is incomplete and may require expansion and/or cleanup. Please improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page. |
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.[8] 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 Brothers (Monroe, 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, Douglas, Georgia and Valdosta, Georgia)
- Belk-Jones (formerly in Stuttgart, Arkansas)
- Belk Leggett (formerly in Danville, Virginia and Durham, North Carolina*)
- Belk Lindsey (formerly in North Florida, Puerto Rico)
- Belk McNight (Greer, SC)
- Belk Matthews (formerly in Macon, Georgia and Warner Robins, 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 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, SC)
- 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.
[edit] Other notes
- Some Belk stores, such as the Tarboro, North Carolina location, had "Belko" service stations.[9]
- John Belk, who went on to become mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the chairman of the Belk Company. He has a freeway named after him (as does his immediate predecessor as mayor, Stan Brookshire), which is part of Interstate 277, an inner loop around Uptown Charlotte.
[edit] References
- ^ Belk, Inc. - Company Profile
- ^ a b
- ^ a b Belk Official Website
- ^ http://www.timesnews.net/article.dna?_StoryID=3608580
- ^ N.C. town lands Collierville's Parisian
- ^ Macy's store listing in metropolitan Memphis area (38103), accessed on May 17, 2007
- ^ Belk, Inc.-- The Company and the Family That Built It
- ^
- ^ steve's blog: Fill 'er up at Belk!
[edit] External links
|
|||||
