Belk's files for bankruptcy

[BoBromhal]

Originally Posted by JONOV

Stores that have weathered the pandemic well sell "essential" stuff or stuff that enables social distancing (I'm just now seeing Kayaks back in outdoor stores.)

Belk has really good advertising and curbside pickup. The problem is that much of my wardrobe has been sitting untouched in my closet for a year. I'm not wearing out my dress socks, I'm not spilling anything on a nice shirt, I'm not wearing ties to see clients. My wife doesn't have any baby/wedding showers, or anything of the sort. No thoughts of buying an outfit for Christmas or New Years or Easter or Thanksgiving...The only new clothing I've bought was for hunting.

think about the shower/wedding registry today vs 30 years ago. Belk was way-dominant, high-margin, got folks into the store. If you wanted to buy a Polo shirt, you went to the store; there was no Polo.com.

I can only guess anecdotally, but I bet the NHills Target does 5x the revenue of the Crabtree Belk.

[paytonc]

Originally Posted by Jowel

Many of those smaller stores have been closing for years... Belk has often been the only place to find a larger selection of nicer clothes and that leaves the only "department" store being Walmart in some of these communities.

Having grown up with Hudson Belk's, it was pretty surprising to realize that (besides Raleigh and Charlotte) Belk was mostly a small town brand. It's one of the few midscale department store chains that had a lot of off-mall locations, simply because those towns were too small to have had enclosed malls. But the rural Southeast's buying power has declined.

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

We had Belk-Hudson in my hometown in SC.

Belk expanded by franchising, and allowed the local partner to put their name on the store. Pretty sure the Raleigh Hudsons and the S.C. Hudsons were different.

FWIW, here's what the Raleigh Hudsons are up to now: https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity...-hudson-photo/

[wizard-xyzzy]

Originally Posted by CLT4

Belk hasn't filed public financial statements recently as they have been completely privately owned since December 2015.

As a general rule, private ownership eliminates the need to file statements with the SEC -- unless the company has a significant amount of publicly traded debt securities. When that happens, as a general rule the privately owned company must still file 10-Ks, etc. But it appears all of the Belk/Sycamore debt was placed privately. Those creditors will effectively become co-owners if the pre-packaged bankruptcy filing is approved. I suspect there is dissention among some creditors.

[SGMI]

Private equity is often the sign of a company that will be slowly dismembered. The unprofitable arms are cut off quickly, the remainder soldiers on with minimal investment until it's not even worth operating as it's own entity or brand - at which point any remaining worthwhile assets are folded into some other entity.

Belks is "a big Thalhimers" and faces a similar fate. Whatever remaining stores are still operating in 20 years will probably be under different corporate signage.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by NRaleigh Mom

Belk has a great Tall/Big men section so I hope they can weather the storm. I can always find items for my 6'7" husband and my daughter's boyfriend. In fact Belk was the only place that had stock on higher end men's athletic wear at Christmas time. I was able to pick up some really cheap items for myself as well :-)

Like others, I find it difficult to order clothing online due to the way each clothing manufacturer sizes things but due to the pandemic I have resorted to online buying. And malls were dying prior to the pandemic. The younger generation doesn't seem to have the need to try on clothes (or touch and feel non clothing items) prior to buying nor do they want to take the time to "shop a mall" when they can just scroll online for items they want. I don't think my daughter has gone into a store and tried things on since she lived with me (that was a decade ago). She would rather just buy online and then ship back the items she doesn't like.

I was grateful to move down here and have Belk closeby. They offer a ridiculous amount of options for a very large man like myself (6’5, 300 lbs.) Belk has really good marketing which I hope keeps them in the game or at least out lasts stores like JCP which is walking on its last legs or Sears who is on life support and just wasting time and money not pulling the plug with zero shot at recovery.

[tylerSC]

Originally Posted by paytonc

Having grown up with Hudson Belk's, it was pretty surprising to realize that (besides Raleigh and Charlotte) Belk was mostly a small town brand. It's one of the few midscale department store chains that had a lot of off-mall locations, simply because those towns were too small to have had enclosed malls. But the rural Southeast's buying power has declined.



Belk expanded by franchising, and allowed the local partner to put their name on the store. Pretty sure the Raleigh Hudsons and the S.C. Hudsons were different.

FWIW, here's what the Raleigh Hudsons are up to now: https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity...-hudson-photo/

As noted Belk previously had franchise partners throughout its southern footprint, before the legacy Belk family consolidated and took over the entire chain. There was Hudson-Belk, Matthews-Belk, Belk-Simpson, Belk-Leggett, among others. In Virginia, their stores were operated as just Leggett, and both Belk and Leggett former signage used the same fancy curly q design in the big B and L logo. Then they switched to the more modern lower case Belk logo similar to Macy's. And they expanded by purchasing Proffitt's, McRae's, and Parisian, and converted stores acquired from Macy's and Bon-Ton. Soon afterwards the founding Belk family sold the stores to private equity firm Sycamore, and apparently that is where some of the troubles began.

Belk has always had many successful small town stores in addition to the larger mall locations. Based in Charlotte, they are the hometown dept. store of the Carolinas and most major malls have Belk as an anchor. And their sales volume has always outperformed Macy's and Dillard's in the Carolinas. And they were performing strong before the Sycamore takeover and the the Covid-19 pandemic. Sometimes the private equity firms exploit profits and then later do damage to the companies they operate. Similar to BI-LO supermarkets which used to be a strong brand and are now going out of business. Hopefully this won't happen to Belk as they reorganize and pay off vendors and creditors.

All retail dept. stores are struggling these days, but I hope Belk will be sustained and turn things around. I have regularly purchased their Saddlebred, Crown and Ivy, and Zelos brands at very reasonable prices. But their nice larger stores also offer the designer names such as Polo Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein if you prefer among others. Hopefully their nice flagship stores such as Crabtree in Raleigh and SouthPark in Charlotte will survive. I like to go to the mall and browse the large anchor stores such as Belk and Macy's, and view the nice displays of the latest styles and trends. I don't like buying clothes online as it is difficult to determine the exact size, shape, color, and fit. I enjoy in person shopping and visiting the mall.

[tylerSC]

But for those folks who prefer impersonal online shopping, Belk as significantly improved its online platform in the past year or so, as well as adding curbside pickup. Very quick delivery. I will sometimes purchase online from Belk and Macy's because I know I can always make an easy exchange or return to the store. Amazon is a hassle to repack and return, and you are never sure of the exact size, shape and color when purchasing clothing online.