Belk is a epartment store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via numerous partnerships and acquisitions over more than a century. The partnership-based corporations, numbering more than 100, were consolidated in 1998 into a single corporation based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the company continues to be based. Belk is currently the largest privately held department store chain in the United States, with its stores primarily located in the Southern United States.