Dillard Department Stores

Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company also has stores in 27 more states; however, it is absent from the Northeast (Washington, D.C., and northward), most of the Upper Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota), the Northwest, and most of California, aside from three stores in smaller cities.

Operations during 20th century

Early history

Dillard's is the outgrowth of a department store founded in 1938 by William T. Dillard; its corporate headquarters remain located at the eastern edge of Little Rock's Riverdale area and many of its executives and directors are members of the Dillard family. The family retains control of the company through its ownership of Class B Common Stock; the Class A common stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Dillard began his first store in Mineral Springs, Arkansas, in what was locally known as "the tater house". It was located across the street from the community's Methodist church. The building that housed the original store was torn down in the early 2000s. Dillard sold the original five and dime store in Nashville, Arkansas, to develop a department store in Texarkana, Arkansas, initially as the minority partner in Wooten & Dillard. In 1956, Dillard led an investment group that acquired the Mayer & Schmidt store in Tyler, Texas. This store eventually took on the name "Dillard's Mayer & Schmidt" until 1974, when it was replaced with a mall-based location south of downtown Tyler.

In 1960, Dillard acquired and turned around the failing Brown-Duncan store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The success of this turnaround was followed in late 1963 by acquiring the Joseph Pfeifer store in Little Rock, Arkansas, and in early 1964 acquiring the other main store in Little Rock, Gus Blass Co. Dillard used this as an opportunity to relocate his headquarters to Little Rock. In 1969, Dillard and his investors took Dillard Department Stores, Inc., public on the American Stock Exchange.

1970–1989

Thereafter, the chain expanded rapidly as an anchor in suburban shopping malls, and took advantage of market conditions to acquire smaller chains as well as its ability to turn around locations that other companies could not operate profitably. Expansion of the Dillard's chain increased rapidly during the 1970s, mainly through expanding into new malls being built in smaller cities in Texas. In 1971 five Texas units were acquired from Fedway, a division of Federated Department Stores (the stores were rebadged as Dillard's in 1972). In 1974, five Leonard's stores were acquired in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as a commitment to open a new downtown Fort Worth store at the Tandy Center (site of the original Leonard's). Also in 1974, the former Brown-Dunkin, Blass, Pfeifer and Mayer & Schmidt stores were fully renamed Dillard's.

The 1980s brought the purchase of many local chains. In 1982, Dillard's leased three units of the defunct Lowenstein's chain in Memphis, Tennessee. In early 1984, Dillard's acquired 12 Stix, Baer & Fuller stores in St. Louis and Kansas City from Associated Dry Goods Corp., while in fall 1984 two department store divisions were purchased from Dayton-Hudson Corporation: Diamond's and John A. Brown, with locations in Arizona, Nevada and Oklahoma. Twelve stores in Kansas and Missouri belonging to R. H. Macy & Co.'s Midwest Division, which was later dissolved in 2006, were acquired in early 1986, while the three-unit Hemphill-Wells company in West Texas was purchased in the summer. The stores at Sunset Mall in San Angelo and South Plains Mall in Lubbock were both converted, while the third in downtown Lubbock was closed.

In 1987, Dillard's purchased 26 of Joske's 27 stores in Texas and Arizona as well as the four-unit Cain-Sloan chain in Nashville, Tennessee, from Allied Stores Corp. This deal gave Dillard's two major anchor locations at several malls in Texas and Arizona with many of the second locations being converted to a separate, expanded home and men's stores, a format that Dillard's utilized greatly, both to grow its store size cost-effectively and to prevent competitors from gaining valuable real estate. Additionally, the Joske's acquisition gave Dillard's entry into the Houston market. That same year, Dillard's co-founded CDI Contractors, a construction company that would help build, remodel, and repair most of its locations, with William "Bill" Clark and Braggs Electric Construction Company.

Dillard's in 1988 acquired the former Selber Bros. clothing department store chain, founded in 1907 in Shreveport, Louisiana, which also had a few locations in Texas.

In 1988, Dillard's purchased the three-unit Miller & Paine chain in Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as more significantly, a half-interest and operational control of The Higbee Co., based in Cleveland, Ohio, with partner Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. D. H. Holmes units in Tucson, Arizona.

1990–1999

The Ivey's chain of 23 stores in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina was acquired from BATUS in 1990. This was followed by Maison Blanche selling eight stores on Florida's Gulf Coast to them in 1991. The locations were at Tyrone Square Mall (1973), University Square Mall, WestShore Plaza (both 1974), Countryside Mall (1976), Southgate Plaza (1978), Edison Mall, Coastland Center (both 1985), and Lakeland Square Mall (1988). In 1992, the remaining interest in the Higbee's stores was acquired, as well as five Ohio stores from Horne's (as part of a legal settlement, Dillard's having canceled a 1988 deal to acquire the chain). Also in 1992, three stores from the Hess's chain liquidation (five other former Hess's were acquired in 1994), two E. M. Scarbrough's locations in Austin, Texas, two Thalhimer's in South Carolina and Tennessee, a former Lord & Taylor store at Oak Court Mall in Memphis, Tennessee and three Belk-Lindsey stores in Florida (Gulf View, DeSoto, and Eastlake). Except for two Belk of Columbia stores that were acquired in 1995, acquisitions were eschewed for a couple of years until early 1997 with the purchase of 15 stores—10 Mervyn's boxes in Florida and five southern Virginia stores from Proffitt's that were acquired from Hess's in 1993. The Mervyn's deal included 5 purchased from Lord & Taylor in 1991-- Cutler Ridge Mall (1982), Coral Square (1984), Miami International Mall, Boynton Beach Mall (both 1985), and Treasure Coast Square (1987)--along with 3 acquired from Jordan Marsh in 1992-- Pompano Fashion Square (1970), Broward Mall (1978), and Melbourne Square (1983)--and the remaining 2 at Lakeland Square Mall (1986) and Pembroke Lakes Mall (1992). The Proffitt's conversion gave them 2 that were also taken over from Rices Nachmans in 1985 at Coliseum Mall (1973) and Pembroke Mall (1981), and 3 newly built stores Patrick Henry Mall, Greenbrier Mall (both 1987), and Chesapeake Square (1988). Three suburban Macy's stores in Houston at Willowbrook Mall, Deerbrook Mall (both 1984), and Baybrook Mall (1985) were absorbed while the location at The Galleria

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