Belk

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
cjd
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 624
Joined: August 18th, 2018, 6:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 6 times
Status: Offline

Belk

Post by cjd »

On Christmas Eve I decided to visit Belk and Bealls at the mall. I had not been inside in nearly a year.

Was really quite unimpressed with the looks of things at Belk. Inventory seemed extremely thin compared to usual, and racks that used to be close together and packed seemed spread apart which is a bad sign. Also nearly everything I saw had Clearance signs on the racks. Not sure if lack of inventory is due to the pandemic but I have not noticed any similar conditions at other stores for the last several months.

Seemed to be a decent number of people shopping in the store, as well as employees. A woman was at the door greeting customers as they came in and out and a man in a Santa suit was handing out stuff.

But overall really wondering what's going on here. This really looks like a store that is headed toward a closing sale in the next few months. General vibe felt like Sears or JCPenney in the mall in their last few years before closing when things constantly looked like a going out of business sale without the signs. Really surprised given the regional popularity of Belk and from my understanding, the mall is owned by a family affiliated with the Belk dept stores.

Anyone else visited any Belk stores lately with similar conditions?

Bealls, by contrast, was very well stocked and seemed to have a lot more people shopping there. The departments have been nearly completely rearranged since my last visit.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1004
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by buckguy »

The Belk family sold to private equity, so they have no connection to the stores (the new owners replaced a CEO from the Belk family with one from Hot Topic, which they also own) and the owners probably feel no special allegiance to property owned by the family. The regional loyalty is probably not important to the new owners---they made a bid to buy Penney's and somehow merge the chains. Belk was struggling a bit near the end of the family's ownership. They had been upgrading locations to bigger, more high end "flagship" status with mixed success. Outside of Charlotte, they often have the image of a small town retailer.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by storewanderer »

I think the private equity that owns Belk, also owns Staples (what a zombie retailer that is) and in recent months, took over some of the Ascensia brands out of bankruptcy as well (Ann Taylor, etc.). It is odd they are taking over other retailers at a time when their current retail operations look less than healthy.
klkla
Posts: 1614
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 3:26 pm
Been thanked: 2 times
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by klkla »

I've never been to either chain but in general December 27th is not a good day to judge store conditions at any retail company because the of the fluctuation in sales caused by the Holidays.

Unfortunately a lot of private equity companies aren't interested in the operations of the companies they buy. They're only interested in what they can suck out of them before sending them to Chapter 11. This is just a general statement not specific to any of the companies mentioned in this thread.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by storewanderer »

klkla wrote: December 27th, 2020, 7:36 pm I've never been to either chain but in general December 27th is not a good day to judge store conditions at any retail company because the of the fluctuation in sales caused by the Holidays.

Unfortunately a lot of private equity companies aren't interested in the operations of the companies they buy. They're only interested in what they can suck out of them before sending them to Chapter 11. This is just a general statement not specific to any of the companies mentioned in this thread.
I haven't been real happy with the private equity owned retailers in general. But I have been impressed how long certain retailers have been kept in business under private equity that probably would have gone under much sooner, had they not gone to private equity. One that comes to mind is Shopko.
veteran+
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts: 2234
Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 7:53 am
Has thanked: 1204 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by veteran+ »

"kept in business" indeed.

I am not impressed with Private Equity. I believe they are the scourge of Capitalism, worse than public corporations.

They hide and they hide problems and they disguise incompetence.

I do not have confidence nor faith in most of the leadership of corporate America and I have less with Private Equity, corporate raiders and the like.

IMHO
cjd
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 624
Joined: August 18th, 2018, 6:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 6 times
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by cjd »

storewanderer wrote: December 27th, 2020, 7:57 pm I haven't been real happy with the private equity owned retailers in general. But I have been impressed how long certain retailers have been kept in business under private equity that probably would have gone under much sooner, had they not gone to private equity. One that comes to mind is Shopko.
I was surprised that Aeropostale actually seemed improved when I visited it this time last year, compared to back in 2012. It was cleaner, better lit, and overall more pleasant. All of the clothes were on hangers or neatly folded, whereas in 2012 it was dark, loud music, and clothes were scattered around like a yard sale.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1004
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by buckguy »

Retail is attractive to private equity because it generates cash and cash flow seems to be the key to why incompetent operators like A&P and Winn-Dixie stumbled on long after you expected them to vanish. And this was after controlling families had forced them to pay dividends that burned through some of that cash. Private equity is expert at maximizing their take from that. That's why customer service usually vanishes and little investment goes into infrastructure, but it's also why chains will soldier on even if they are basically zombies.
SamSpade
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1568
Joined: September 13th, 2015, 4:39 pm
Has thanked: 374 times
Been thanked: 57 times
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by SamSpade »

buckguy wrote: December 27th, 2020, 6:59 amOutside of Charlotte, they often have the image of a small town retailer.
Belk has been the butt of a few jokes on "Bless the Harts" (set in a fictional NC that has, among others, Mega - Lo - Mart)

It does seem like Belk is the remaining anchor at many southern (small) malls. Then again, stores like Mervyn's or Kohl's anchored strip centers for years.
MSSportsGuy
Front-End Bagger
Front-End Bagger
Posts: 22
Joined: November 6th, 2018, 5:45 am
Status: Offline

Re: Belk

Post by MSSportsGuy »

There are numerous Belk locations in small Mississippi towns. I visited one just before the holiday and it had surprisingly low inventory levels and was very disorganized. When Belk first entered Mississippi their stores seemed to have a better quality of merchandise. Now Belk reminds me of Kohls, which isn't a bad thing but they seem to carry mostly the same merchandise.

Belk tried to put more into stores in urban areas to make them more attractive and carry a larger variety of higher end name brands. I don't know how successful they were but it does seem that Belk in this area has gone down in terms of quality and service.
Post Reply