as nyse dds industry retail founded 1938 ; 78 years ago 1938 founder william t. dillard headquarters little rock arkansas u.s. number of locations 330 stores march 2015 1 area served united states key people william t. dillard ii chairman and ceo alex dillard president products clothing footwear bedding furniture jewelry beauty products and housewares . revenue us 6.754 billion fy 2016 2 operating income us 454 million fy 2016 3 net income us 269 million fy 2016 3 total assets us 3.865 billion fy 2016 3 total equity us 1.795 billion fy 2016 3 number of employees 21 600 january 2016 3 website dillards.com dillard s inc. is a department store chain with 330 stores in 28 states headquartered in little rock arkansas . 4 dillard s locations are concentrated in texas and florida ; with a major presence in other states including arizona iowa colorado wyoming kansas missouri alabama georgia tennessee oklahoma mississippi louisiana nebraska new mexico nevada utah north carolina virginia idaho south carolina kentucky indiana ohio and illinois . dillard s also maintains a minor footprint in california and montana . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings 1.2 acquisitions and expansion 1.3 1990s acquisitions 1.4 late 1990s 1.5 recent events 2 current operations 3 references 4 external links 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 exterior of a dillard s flagship department store at dallas northpark center . beginnings 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 . 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 . acquisitions and expansion 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. interior of a dillard s store greensboro north carolina 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 . 5 dillard s during the christmas shopping season at ingram park mall in san antonio texas 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 . 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 . 6 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 co. ltd. of new orleans was purchased in 1989 bringing 18 units primarily in louisiana as well two former diamond s units in tucson arizona . 1990s acquisitions the ivey s chain of 23 stores in florida north carolina and south carolina was acquired from batus in 1990 . this was followed by the acquisition of eight florida gulf coast stores from maison blanche co. in 1991 which had acquired them as robinsons of florida only a few years before . in 1992 the remaining interest in the higbee s stores were 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 former thalhimer s in south carolina and tennessee a former lord & taylor store in memphis tennessee and three former belk lindsey stores in florida were acquired by dillard s. except for two belk of columbia stores acquired in 1995 acquisitions were eschewed for several years until in early 1997 ten buildings in florida were acquired from mervyns seven southern virginia stores were purchased from proffitt s which had acquired them from hess s in 1993 and the three suburban macy s stores in houston were absorbed . late 1990s the deal making culminated with the purchase of mercantile stores co. inc. in 1998 . the purchase of this fairfield ohio based department store company brought several chains including 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 s sold 26 stores of the former mercantile stores to may department stores co. and saks incorporated and traded an additional seven stores to belk for nine of theirs in southern virginia and chattanooga tennessee . overall this deal enabled dillard s to enhance its position in several markets in the south midwest and mountain states . also in 1998 the chain entered california opening its first store in a former weinstock s at weberstown mall in stockton california . 7 in 1999 dillard s opened a store at mall of georgia near atlanta georgia . recent events dillard s in fairview texas opened on march 10 2010 . after the acquisition of mercantile dillard s ceased expanding through acquisitions although eight locations of the defunct montgomery ward in the midwest and four locations from zcmi in utah and idaho were acquired in 2001 . in 2004 dillard s store credit card operation operated as dillard s national bank was sold to ge money bank . customers can now be issued dillard s american express cards as well the traditional dillard s store charge . these cards can be used at any store that accepts the american express brand . in 2005 dillard s opened a store at atlantic station in atlanta georgia . in 2008 dillard s closed their travel agency dillard s travel alongside all in store locations due to economic conditions . dillard s travel previously operated in 43 of the 318 stores . 8 9 current operations wikimedia commons has media related to dillard s. map of dillard s locations the chain continues to expand and has recently added stores in non traditional mall shopping centers . currently the largest dillard s store at 365 000 square feet 33 000 m is located at scottsdale fashion square an enclosed super regional mall in scottsdale arizona . within the dallas area the chain has two flagship stores with a 299 000 square foot 27 800 m2 store at the upscale northpark center in dallas and a 310 000 square foot 29 000 m2 store at the north east mall in hurst . 10 its flagship store in the east coast region at 260 000 square feet 24 000 m2 is located in the upscale macarthur center in downtown norfolk virginia . the home store for the chain is in little rock ; the divided store is located in the trend conscious park plaza mall one of the city s oldest continuously operating shopping centers in its midtown section . in several upper scale locations like simon malls owned midland park mall texas or in locations where another acquired store existed before the merger dillards operates both men s and women s stores ; both are located within the same mall but in separate distinct anchor locations . dillard s also maintains separate men s and women s anchor stores at cielo vista mall and sunland park mall both in el paso texas ; the battlefield mall in springfield missouri ; melbourne square mall in melbourne florida ; mall of louisiana in baton rouge louisiana ; first colony mall in sugar land texas suburban houston ; south plains mall in lubbock tx ; westgate mall in amarillo tx ; central mall in fort smith arkansas ; lakeline mall in cedar park texas suburban austin ; great lakes mall in mentor ohio suburban cleveland ; oak park mall in overland park kansas suburban kansas city ; sikes senter mall in wichita falls tx ; penn square mall in oklahoma city oklahoma ; and northpark mall in ridgeland mississippi . at volusia mall in daytona beach florida dillard s operates three separate two story buildings dillard s east a men s home store ; dillard s south a children s juniors store ; and dillard s west a women s store . 11 references dillard s brand . accessed 22 march 2015 2016 form 10 k dillard s inc. . tagnifi . a b c d e 2010 form 10 k dillard s inc. . united states securities and exchange commission . dillard s investor relations . dillard s. archived from the original on 2007 02 11 . retrieved 2007 03 09 . laughlin lee 16 july 1986 . hemphill wells dep t store chain bought by dillard s . daily news record . retrieved 18 november 2013 . aaron selber . the shreveport times . retrieved august 14 2013 . hood jeff 20 april 1998 . dillard s settling in . recordnet.com . retrieved 13 january 2014 . dilliard s closes travel agency to affect 160 employees dillard s travel is closed dillard s tarrant tx 76053