Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Exterior entrance. (Belk, Inc.)Frequent LiveMalls contributor Patrick Richardson went to the Eastridge Mall (Westfield Eastridge) in Gastonia, North Carolina, and took these great pictures (below) of the Matthews Belk store there. His comments are in italics below.
Frank Matthews (of "Matthews Belk") lives down the road, so this Belk store is always meticulous. They revamped the store about 6 years ago and did a nice job with the exterior (though I miss the old Belk-blue awnings over each door).
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Lower level mall entrance, 11/26/06. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Upper level mall entrance, 11/26/06. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Exterior entrance, 11/26/06. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Close-up of exterior entrance, 11/26/06. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Clerstory window and trim detail in escalator well, 11/26/06. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. The California Raisins celebrating Belk's 100th Anniversary, October 1988. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)
Here are some super pictures of the Matthews Belk at Eastridge when they had the amazingly-bad Belk-blue awnings above the entrances. I'm not sure of any other Belk stores had these. These photos were taken in the late-90's as the awnings were coming down (see last picture).
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Unremodeled exterior entrance, circa 1998. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Unremodeled exterior entrance detail, circa 1998. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Unremodeled exterior, circa 1998. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. Exterior entrance undergoing renovation, circa 1998. (Photo by Pat Richardson)
This is the most tastefully done entrance structure I have seen on a department store that isn't Dillards.
ReplyDeleteIt actually looks a lot like a Dillards, actually :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the look of this Belk store. it is indeed kept meticulous because of the Matthews Family. I remember the old Matthews Belk in downtown Belmont too (nearby) before it closed and thinking how cool that was.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about the Matthews family, but they held a really big stake in the history of Belk, evidenced by the fact they're one of the few hyphenated Belk names still left.
ReplyDeleteSo is Matthews Belk the same family as the Belk Matthews stores of middle Georgia? I remember LOTS of Belk Matthews stores there in 2003, but by 2005 it was down to two still posted as such in Macon and (from what I'm told) Centerville/Houston County.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same Matthews family as Belk Matthews, but the ownership structure was slightly different.
ReplyDeleteNow they aren't displaying the original family names hyphenated with belk because they all agreed to sell out to the belk company and were given option to have stock of the whole belk company. The Matthews started original belk stores with the belk brothers and are still heavily involved.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good thing the Matthewses are still involved. I hear the Gastonia store is first-rate.
ReplyDeleteThe people are still first-rate (employees-family-customers)! I wouldn't say the store is compared to Charlotte and such. Bad economy/mill-town economics force it to be a different animal. Too bad they had to sell out against their values and open on Sundays as well. Very long term employees 40 years + have said, "(so-and-so) would roll over in her/his grave if she'd known we were open today when I used to rest with my church and family!"
ReplyDeleteAt least they are still there to tell the story. Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDelete