The Men Who Started It All
William Henry Belk at the age of 35.
"Mr. Belk will sec you now," said
ihc lady in the outer office.
I walked through the doorway and
was greeted most cordially by the
pleasant-faced, elderly gentleman on
the other side of the desk.
It was back in 1934, as I recall;
shortly after I had started Tut: State.
I had gone to Charlotte to sec about
getting some advertising contracts, and
Mr. Belk was on the list of prospects
whom I wanted to see.
"How is the magazine coming
along?” he inquired.
"I didn't know you ever had seen
it," I told him.
"Yes, indeed. Someone here in the
office gets it and I've been reading
it more or less regularly. I think you’ve
got a good idea and I hope you'll put
it across. North Carolina needs a pub¬
lication of that kind.”
“Well,” I told him, “It’s been pretty
hard work so far.”
“You don’t mind hard work, do
you?”
"No, I don't; particularly when it's
the kind of work I like to do."
“Arc you a native North Carolin¬
ian?" was the next question.
"No, I came down here from New
York State."
“You’ll get along all right,” he said,
nodding his head slowly two or three
times.
"What makes you think so?" I
couldn’t help asking.
By CARL GOEKC1I
"You’re willing to work and you’ve
got brains."
"What makes you think I've got
brains?”
I can still sec the twinkle in his
eyes as he replied: "You showed that
when you decided to come to North
Carolina and live among the people in
this state."
We talked about the matter I
wanted to discuss with him and he
gave me the helpful iniormation 1 de¬
sired.
That was the lirst time 1 ever met
William Henry Belk. During the fol¬
lowing years 1 called on several other
occasions. He was always friendly,
courteous, interested and co-operative.
One thing 1 lound out about Mr.
Belk: he loved people, it didn't make
much difference what type oi people —
banker, farm hand, plumber, newspa¬
perman or colored janitor — he was just
as friendly and sympathetic with one
as another. Before his death in Fcb-
ruary ol this year he had amassed a
large fortune; he was regarded as the
leading retail merchant of the South;
he had been a lactor in the establish¬
ment of more than 3U0 Belk stores,
but he was just as unassuming, just as
modest, just as natural and just as
unallecicd as he was while running a
little store in Monroe more than sixty
years ago.
The story of how William Henry
Belk and his brother, John Montgom¬
ery Belk, got their start in the mer¬
cantile business is pretty generally
known, so I'll touch on it just briclly
here.
William Henry Belk was born in the
Waxhaw community in 1862 in a
modest farm home. His father was
killed by Sherman's marauders in
1865, leaving a widow and three small
boys. You can imagine the hardships
they had to undergo through the dis¬
tressing Reconstruction era.
At the age of 14 he got a job in
B. D. Heath's general store in Mon¬
roe. He worked for Mr. Heath 12
years and then decided to strike out
on his own. Out of his small salary
Dr. John Montgomery Belk
he had managed to save S750. He
borrowed $500 more at 10 per cent
interest and rented a building for $25
a month.
Those were the days when stores
opened at 6 o'clock in the morning
and remained open until late at night
— often until midnight. Mr. Belk was
there to open up, and he always was
there to lock the door at the close of
the day's business.
In six months he had repaid the
loan and showed a clear profit of $3,-
300.
After a short period of lime he in¬
fluenced his brother, John Montgom¬
ery, to give up his medical practice
in Anson County and join him in the
mercantile business. They set forth on
the task of building what is today the
largest group of stores of their kind in
the South.
Other storekeepers shook their
heads at William Henry Belk's method
of operation. Practically all general
mercantile establishments of that era
sold goods on a time basis. Mr. Belk
decided to sell for cash. Not only that,
but he saw to it that every piece of
merchandise bore a plainly marked
price tag. He told his clerks that under
no circumstances were they to sell any
item at a lower or higher price than the
tag called for. This was contrary to the
policy of haggling between merchant
and customer which was then a gen¬
eral practice.
His policy was to sell good mer-
THE BTATE. NOVEMBER 1. 1952
27
