After a little research, it seems to me that Sycamore’s business plan is as follows.....
1–buy a retail company(Belk)
2–take on a ton of debt in that company’s name (Belk) to pay Sycamore back the money they invested to buy the company, plus whatever profit they want to make
3–make the company as lean as possible by cutting hours, cutting salaries, and whatever else the “bean counters”, who have obviously never worked in a retail store, deem necessary to squeeze out any remaining profit for themselves
4–file bankruptcy and give part ownership to the debtor to wipe away some of the debt
5–finally, as soon as that last penny of profit is squeezed out they will file a liquidation bankruptcy and exit the venture
Unfortunately, the loyal employees who stayed will be left jobless.
It seems like they are nearing the final stage and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those Belk locations turn into Amazon fulfillment centers.