Belk fulfillment center in Union County to close, lay off more than 300

JONESVILLE — Department store chain Belk will shut down its fulfillment center in Union County, laying off about 310 employees.

The projected closure date for the product distribution hub is April 30, according to a federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification that Belk filed with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce. The notice is required of employers with 100 or more workers for closures or mass layoffs.

The Charlotte-based department store said it would close the Jonesville location in the “coming months” as part “an effort to further align our supply chain network with the needs of the company,” Belk spokeswoman Jessica Rohlik said in an email.

“The decision was made after careful review of internal processes,” Rohlik wrote. “We know the closure will affect associates at the Jonesville fulfillment center, and we are committed to working with them in the coming weeks to provide resources during the transition.”

The Jonesville fulfillment center was established in 2012 at 3805 Furman L. Fendley Highway to handle orders for it online business. Belk invested about $88 million into the campus over the past decade.

In 2013, the company spent $9 million to renovate its 500,000-square-foot facility, formerly owned by Disney, and hired approximately 120 workers. The same year, Belk committed an additional $32 million by 2014 to “increase the center’s capacity” and planned to add 170 jobs, according to a S.C. Department of Commerce announcement.

In 2014, the Union County facility was acquired by a real estate investment trust, CPA 18-Global, which Belk then leased back. The two collectively invested $47 million more in the site and added 20 new positions. This expansion added 345,000 square feet of space to the plant.

Like most retailers, Belk took a major financial hit in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down malls, kept shoppers at home and pummeled apparel sales.

The planned Jonesville distribution center closing is one first major operational retrenchments for the chain in the 13 months since it emerged from bankruptcy protection. The reorganization provided the retailer with $225 million in fresh capital, cut its debt load to about $1.46 billion and extended its loan repayment deadlines. Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm that bought Belk for $3 billion in 2015, retained control of the business, which named a new CEO last summer.

Founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk, the merchandiser has been catering to Palmetto State shoppers since the early 1890s.