CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Belk, the North Carolina-based department store chain which has catered to generations of shoppers for nearly 190 years, announced Tuesday that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A group of the department store’s creditors, led by the private equity firms KKR and Blackstone, will get a minority stake. Three generations of the Belk family led the company to become the biggest family-owned department store chain in the country by 2015, when the family sold it for $3 billion. The sale to Sycamore loaded the chain with over $2 billion in debt at a time when department stores were losing popularity. The department store has struggled during the coronavirus pandemic as customers flocked to online shopping and avoided in-person shopping.