Department store reverses Salvation Army ban -- Ring those bells!

Belk, like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Day, has seen the error of its way and reversed its decision to ban Salvation Army bell-ringers from its department stores.

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“When our customers speak, we listen,” a company spokesman told the Todd Starnes Radio Show. “And our customers have been loud and clear about their passion for the Salvation Army.

The change of heart came just a few hours after we posted a story about the department store’s decision to ban the iconic red kettles and proceed in a different direction with a new “social impact program.”

Let’s just say Belk customers made a social impact of their own – many taking to Facebook and Twitter to voice their extreme displeasure over the bell-ringer ban.

The Salvation Army had been caught off-guard by the department store’s initial decision to ban bell-ringers from outside the stores – predicting a loss of about $1 million.

“We believe that a lot of Belk’s customers align with the Salvation Army’s views. We believe in saying ‘Merry Christmas’ because we believe Jesus is absolutely the reason for the season,” Lt. Rob Dolby, of the Salvation Army, told the Todd Starnes Show.

A company spokesman said Salvation Army was “always going to be a part of our community strategy in the future.”

And the future – happens to be now.

“During the process of making that commitment even stronger with our home for the Holidays campaign, we mistakenly left out the Salvation Army at some of our stores, the company spokesman said. “We have fixed that as we know our customers are passionate about the Salvation Army.”

So the bells are ringing, the coins are clinking in the red kettles and Belk has found the spirit of Christmas. It’s like a Hallmark Christmas movie. God bless us, everyone – indeed.