Outlet Strategy

Blake Hoyle spoke to our Retail seminar about what it was like creating the first outlet for Belk. Blake has worked in retail since he was 16 years old and has continued to work for retail since. Blake worked with Abercrombie and Fitch for almost 10 years then in 2016 he switched roles and became a store manager for Belk. Since he has worked his way up through Belk and is now the Regional Vice President of Outlets.

When Belk decided to turn some of their stores into outlets, they scoped out many locations but decided to start with a small store in the Blakes region. Within two weeks his team had transitioned an entire Belk store into an outlet. This meant replacing 30,000 units of merchandise with 100,000-200,000 units. In order for this transition to work Belk had to start with a financial model, then create an execution plan, then find the right location. Belk worked with merchandising teams, operations teams, and design teams, and so many elements went into making this transition smooth and effective in the future. This first store was so successful that Belk now has 17 outlets that have all transitioned.

The order to make sure these outlets were successful Belk had to make sure their brand was still translated, the clothes were still trendy and desired, and also the price had to be right. Overall, Belk has done a great job with their transition into the Outlet world and Blake was valuable in learning about how that transition works.