People used to love working at Belk. There isn't a single happy person here now. Some stores are closed, people have lost their jobs, working conditions are worse than ever, customers are increasingly dissatisfied too. The company is sinking.-------- I wonder, could everything have been different?
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Yes, they could have done something. When sycamore bought them they began removing any genuinely good buyers/VP’s that knew their customer and had great numbers just because they didn’t agree with the new direction the company was going in. They gambled by walking away from what they knew and they lost.
Belk is too far gone. If you do into a Dillards, Von Maur, JC Penney, or Macy's the difference between those stores and Belk is staggering. I would compare Belk to a Ross, Marshall's or even TJ Maxx, but the name brands (Polo, Calvin Klein, Under Armour) are gone, so the other stores have the upper hand when it comes to name brands.
WE will survive.. WE are Belk STRONG!!
The short answer is "NO".
Well before, way before the company was sold, the failure to update technology and equipment, to understand and embrace on-line ordering, to control orders and avoid bloated inventories, not to be seduced by money losing ego gratifying flagship stores over the small/medium store cash cows that were the real Belk, to truly find its identity and not a hollow slogan, to hang onto redundant and useless division structures, all of this and so much more, early on, drove nails into Belk's coffin.
And then the bloated, inefficient retail dinosaur was caught and beat down by the retailer's nightmare called Amazon.
BTW others that were thought to be likewise done in by Amazon, like HD, Lowe's, Target, TJ & assoc. sister companies, Auto Zone, WalMart and many others did what Belk did not, could not, would not do to not only survive but grow and prosper.
Loved my coworkers, Belk did not acknowledge the work they do.
They are the ones who kept the store going.
Belk expected to devote your life, and jump at their beck and call.
You were worked 35 hours, so they didn't have to give you full time, with the benefits and vacation.
You were degraded, disrespected by certain managers, associates did complain,, went to HR, and quit, because the manager was not disciplined, or wrote up due to their behavior, it still continued.
Your schedule was usually a spur of the moment notice, putting in days off was always on pending, and denied, therefore you could not make plans, or have a family life.
Yes, things could have been different, but they're were not, which contributed to the demise of Belk, along with their chapter 11.