I was a store manager at Belk until 2020, shortly before Covid shutdown. Honestly, I am surprised Belk is still open and had closed almost no stores, I’m really surprised. Shortly after the holiday season 2019, in early January 2020 I thought the company was going to liquidate. We were told to push out as many associates as possible to hire new ones at starting pay, Belk wants part time flex at minimum wage, and that’s all they want, very, very, very few people are willing to work for $12-$15 hour and get 10 hours a week or less, and now it’s probably harder to attract anyone at that pay. As someone stated before, you will find low quality applicants, and that’s even if someone applies, most job posts remain vacant for the longest time. About six months ago (out of the blue) I received a text from my former RVP asking if I would be interested in returning to Belk. It seemed as if managers are leaving too, the text almost seemed scripted and appeared to be sent out to more than one person, I never replied as I have a new job that I am very happy with.
Belk is unrecognizable to me. It’s transitioned into a mix between a thrift store, mid level department store, and warehouse for picking online orders, its identity is tarnished. Most of my colleagues at Belk are now gone, and all have had the same concerns and reasons for leaving Belk. Not only is transparency an issue, but the connection between corporate and store level managers is severely lacking, which makes day to day operations more difficult for everyone working at the store level.