🠈  Dillard's  🠊

Dillards

Dillards is an upscale department store headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas with stores throughout the United States. At the end of 2004, Dillards had about 300 stores in 29 states.

The chain traces its history to 1938 when William T. Dillard (1914-2002) opened his first store in Nashville, Arkansas with $8,000 and a generous credit line based on his family's experience in the grocery business. Mr. Dillard sold the first store and entered a series of partnerships and mergers in subsequent years.

The company was adept at turning around department stores and grew through a combination of new stores and mergers through the 1990s.

Dillard went public on the American Stock Exchange in 1969. Dillard's currently trades on the NYSE with the symbol DDS.

The stores tend to be located in suburban shopping malls. According to Wikipedia, Dillard's store had approximately 37,000 employees in 2019. The stores are concentrated heavily in the Central through Southwest region of the US.¹

Corporate Timeline

This page shows select events in the corporate timeline of Dillards. William T. Dillard's father owned a store in the "Tater House" section of Mineral Springs, Arkansas.

• 1938: William T. Dillard opened T.J. Dillards in Nashville, Ar.
• Dillard sold his stores during WWII.
• 1949: Dillard bought half interest in Wooten Department Stores.
• 1961: Dillard's opened Dillard Investment Company, Inc. which gave loans to customers.
• 1960: Dillard acquired Brown-Duncan in Tulsa.
• 1963: Dillard acquired Joseph Pfeifer store in Little Rock, Ar.
• 1964: Dillard acquired Gus Blass Co. in Little Rock, Ar and moved its headquarters to Little Rock.1964: Dillard's opened its first department store. in Austin, Texas.
• 1969: Dillard Department Stores, Inc. held and IPO on the American Stock Exchange with symbol DDS.
• 1971: Dillard acquired five Fedway stores from Federated Department Stores.
• 1972: Dillard bought five Leonard's stores in Fort Worth from Tandy.
• 1978: The Netherlands based group Vendex acquired $24 million in stock and obtained a seat on the board of directors.
• 1982: Dillard leased 3 units of Lowenstein's in Memphis.
• 1984: Dillard acquired 12 Stix, Baer & Fuller stores in St. Louis and Kansas City from Associated Dry Goods Corp.
• 1984: Dillard bought Diamond's and John A. Brown stores from Dayton-Hudson Corporation.
• 1984: Dillard bought 12 stores from the R. H. Macy & Co.'s Midwest Division.
• 1987: Dillard's purchased 26 Joske's stores in Texas and Arizona
• 1987: Dillard acquired Cain-Sloan chain of 4 stores in Nashville, Tn from Allied Stores Corp..
• 1988: Dillard acquired Selber Bros. which was a chain of clothing stores based in Shreveport, La.
• 1988: Dillard acquired Miller & Paine which was a three store chain based in Lincoln, Ne.
• 1988: Dillard acquired half interest and control of The Higbee Co. based in Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1990: Dillard acquired Ivey's which had 23 stores in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina from BATUS.
• 1991: Dillard bought 8 stores in the Gulf Coast from Maison Blanche.
• 1992: Dillard acquired the remaining interest in Higbee's stores.
• 1992: Dillard acquired five stores in Ohio from Horne's.
• 1992-94: Dillard 8 stores from the liquidation of Hess.
• 1994: Dillard bought two E.M. Scarbrough's located in Austin, Tx.
• 1994: Dillard bought two Thalhimer's based in South Carolina and Tennessee.
• 1994: Dillard bought a Lord & Taylor in Memphis, Tn.
• 1994-95: Dillard bought 3 Belk-Lindsey stores in Florida.
• 1993: Dillard acquired five Proffitt's from Hess.
• 1998: Dillard acquired Ohio-based Mercantile Stores Co., Inc. which operated Bacon's, Castner Knott, de Lendrecie's, Gayfers, Glass Block, Hennessy's, J.B. White, Joslins, Lion Store, Maison Blanche, McAlpin's, Root's and The Jones Store.
• Dillard sold 26 of the Mercantile Stores purchase to May Department Stores Co. and seven to Belk.

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References:

1. Wikipedia - Dillards (Drawn 3/24/2017)
2. Encyclopedia of Arkansas - Dillards (Drawn 2/2/2021)

Directory Listings:

• Cochise County - Shopping: Dillard's
• Coconino County - Shopping: Dillard's
• Mohave County - Shopping: Dillard's
• Phoenix Color - Shopping: Dillard's
• Pima County - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Pinal County - Apparel: Dillard's
• Yavapai County - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Yuma County - Shopping: Dillard's
• Colorado Springs Color - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Denver Color - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Pueblo Color - Shopping: Dillard's
• Missoula Websites - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Davis County - Apparel: Dillard's
• Ogden, Utah - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Provo Utah - Department Stores: Dillard's
• Saint George - Shopping: Dillard's
• Salt Lake Sites - Department: Dillard's
• Cheyenne, Wyoming. US - Malls & Department Stores: Dillard's

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