Belk files Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston, giving the retail icon a lifeline

[TexasTowelie]

Once one of Charlotte’s top companies, Belk filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston late Tuesday. It’s the first step in the Charlotte retail icon’s reorganization plan that will see its owner, Sycamore Partners, cede a large stake of the company to its lenders while maintaining control.

If approved, the bankruptcy plan is slated to give Belk a new infusion of capital and cut its debt load by about $450 million.

The hearing for the bankruptcy, which is expected to be completed in a quick 24 hours, is scheduled for 3 p.m. EST Wednesday.

A little more than five years since the Belk family sold the department store for about $3 billion, Belk found itself bankrupt after a daunting debt load, shifting consumers tastes and a dying business model were all magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more: https://www.heraldonline.com/news/state/north-carolina/article249433360.html
(Rock Hill Herald)

[napi21]

1. Sad to see. This is sure no time to be in the retail Dept. Store business. I hope things turn

around soon enough to save them.

[sprinkleeninow]

2. Always have loved Belk. "Shifting consumer tastes"? Not to me.

They offer quality at decent prices. Plus great sales and promos.

I been shopping more often there online and am always satisfied.

This present climate/environment sux.

[Brush Bunny]

3. Sure appears to be a case of

someone having a insider writing the Loan Documents. Three Billion Debt for a small regional Department Store. One can see a Chapter Seven coming down the Track in less than a year.

[sabbat hunter]

4. A private equity company bought them

from the Belk family. No wonder it went bankrupt. If a private equity group buys out a company that company will go bankrupt sooner rather than later. They load the company down with debt from the takeover, too much for the company to survive. The PE group walks away millions of dollars richer, and everyone else poorer.