A decade after the Belk family sold their 300-unit department store chain, a fourth generation is showing some entrepreneurial vigor.
The latest example: in February, Rob Belk acquired Greensboro-based marketing agency Sales Factory and became CEO. He’s the son of former Belk stores President Johnny Belk, who with his CEO brother Tim Belk negotiated the $3 billion sale to Sycamore Partners in 2105.
Their father, Tom Belk, joined brother John Belk to share top leadership of the retail business for decades. In turn, their father, William Henry Belk, started the business in Monroe in 1888.
Former CEO Ged King will remain Sales Factory’s chief revenue officer and equity partner, focusing on new business development and the transition. King’s father, the late George King, started the business in 1984. It has grown to 51 employees, including 41 based in the Triad and a second office in Raleigh.
Rob Belk notes his family ties offer a lot of advantages, which he likened to the parable of talents that Jesus described in the Gospel of Matthew.
We were “born into something where we’re fortunate to have so many resources, and for me, it’s always felt like a calling to not bury those, but actually put it to work,” he says.
Belk’s career path seemed destined growing up in Charlotte in the 2000s. As a teenager, he had an early job selling women’s shoes at Belk’s flagship store at SouthPark Mall, with his sights set on being a part of the next generation to lead the regional department chain.
He was attending the University of Virginia at the time of the sale. Its timing proved to be exceptional, with department store values plunging over the past decade.
He has followed in the entrepreneurial lane of his family. His cousin, Katherine, who friends call Peanut, operates Wild Hope Farm, about 45 miles south of Charlotte, which supplies produce and flowers to restaurants and consumers regionally.
Another cousin, Charlie Morris, bought Florence, South Carolina-based Young’s Premium Foods, known for its Christmastime nut packages. And cousin Thomas Belk founded Charlotte-based Spot On Moving.
“Growing up in a family business, I think you kind of get that (entrepreneurship) somewhat instinctively,” Belk says. “I felt like the best way to tap into the desire to do something entrepreneurial was to find an existing business that already had the hard part, you know, the product market, figured out.”
He says he found that in Sales Factory, starting as a client less than a year before buying the business in February.
“I’m not here to get in the weeds and do the creative work,” he says. “I’m here to ensure that everybody can do what they’re experts at. I set the strategy into vision and let the real experts do the actual work.
“I want this to be a jewel of Greensboro, but over time, a jewel for the state,” he says.
While earning an MBA at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Belk had an internship in 2018 at the NFL headquarters in New York. That’s where he gained a connection that led to a job with Activision Blizzard, which owns the “Call of Duty” video game.
The experience “gave me a lot of confidence that I could come into a new industry, a new company, not necessarily having grown up in it, and be successful,” says Belk, noting he wasn’t an avid gamer.
Belk moved to Greensboro to be closer to his wife’s family about three years ago. He had been living for about five years in the Los Angeles area, working for Activision Blizzard. His roles included director of the esports group for “Call of Duty”.
Over the past six months, he says he has spent more time with Ged King than anyone except his wife. King and his brother, Matt King, took over Sales Factory when their father died in 1996. Ged King has been CEO for 12 years.
“He’s built an incredible business with his brother, and they’ve carried on their family’s legacy,” says Belk.
Much of Sales Factory work focuses on research and ideas that help clients sell more products at big-box stores. Its clients include Channellock, Primo Water, General Electric, Tempur Sealy International, Reynolds, Fruit of the Loom and WD-40.
“I think a little bit of the retail in my blood came calling,” says Belk.
Ged King says Belk will bring “fresh energy, a growth mindset, and a strong alignment with the values that have defined Sales Factory. He understands our business, believes in our people and shares our long-term commitment to this community.” ■