As urban populations shifted to the suburbs, Ayres established branch stores in new shopping centers in several Indiana cities.

Ayres also acquired retail subsidiaries in Springfield, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky.

The flagship store in Indianapolis was closed in the spring of 1992 as the remaining Ayres operation merged with May's Famous-Barr division.

Designed by the Indianapolis architectural firm of Vonnegut and Bohn, the new eight-story flagship store opened on October 3, 1905, with more than 3 acres (130,000 sq ft; 12,000 m2) of selling space.

[7] After World War II, an eleven-story addition to the flagship store completed along Meridian Street, adjacent to the South Building.

Over the 1920s Ayres had acquired space southwards, including: 1-7 W. Washington and 30 S. Meridian were retrofitted in 1997 by Browning Investments & Hagerman Construction for use as an office building and Parisian, later Carson's, department store, anchoring a new Circle Centre Mall.

As urban populations shifted outward to suburban areas, Ayres moved closer to its customers by establishing branch stores in Indianapolis and Lafayette, Indiana.

[27] In 1969 Ayres expanded into Louisville, Kentucky, with the acquisition of Kaufman-Straus Company, a retail division of City Stores Corporation.

[38] In April 1991, a May spokesperson announced that the Ayres flagship store would not be a part of Indianapolis's proposed Circle Centre mall.

[41] Ayres offered a full line of merchandise and services, but it was especially known for women's fashions and its Tea Room, Christmas events and displays, and the budget store.

The local gathering spot also provided informal modeling of store fashions for its diners, who were predominantly women.

[44] Over the years, in-store food options at the Indianapolis flagship store also included a soda fountain, a basement coffee and snack bar, and, in the 1970s, a cafeteria-style tea room on the balcony overlooking the main floor.

[46] On the night before Thanksgiving in 1947, a bronze cherub appeared on the Indianapolis flagship store's large, outdoor clock at the corner of Meridian and Washington Streets.

After World War II, Ayres provided telephone visits with Santa and live television broadcasts.

From 1958 through 1961, the Santa Claus Express, a miniature electric train, gave children rides through the store's Christmas display.

By the 1960s, the Budget Store had declined and was eclipsed by Ayr-Way, the Ayres discount subsidiary, and changes in shopping trends and pricing.

Ayres Annex Warehouse, an Italianate-style brick building on Maryland Street, south of the flagship store, was originally called Elliott's Block.

Built in 1875 for Calvin A. Elliott, a wholesale liquor merchant, the warehouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

[14] From 1919 until the early 1930s, Ayres operated two specialty shops during the tourist season at the French Lick Springs Hotel, a resort and spa in southern Indiana.

The subsidiary also provided for future expansions with the acquisition of additional land in Anderson, Indianapolis, South Bend, and Evansville, Indiana.

The Indianapolis showroom, located at 31 West Thirteenth Street, operated like the Chicago Merchandise Mart and was the only one of its kind in Indiana.

The modern, six-story downtown store was known for its quality fashions and customer service and became a training ground for Ayres managers.

In 1980, the downtown Springfield store closed after a new Stix, Baer and Fuller branch opened on the city's south side.

Under antitrust pressure from the Federal Trade Commission, Associated Dry Goods sold its Ayr-Way discount subsidiary to the private investment banking firm Stephens Inc. for $19.9 million in 1976 and closed the deal in early 1977.

[73] In 1872, Lyman Ayres acquired controlling interest the Indianapolis dry-goods business owned by N. R. Smith and Company with an initial investment of $40,000 (~$907,384 in 2023) in sight drafts and notes.

[76] During the 1940s the board was expanded from five to include as many as nine members who represented the interests of the store, the general public, and the Ayres family.

[92] In the 1980s, after becoming part of Associated Dry Goods, Ayres added new locations, remodeled out-of-date stores, and was a profitable subsidiary.

Most of the company's minority employees worked at the downtown stores in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky.

[95] Flora Krauch, the company's first woman executive, arrived at Ayres in 1909 as a buyer and established the store's successful children's department.

[96] Beverly Rice became the store's first female vice president in 1969 as a merchandise manager for the Cygnet Shops and women's better apparel.