[5] Dillard began his first store in Mineral Springs, Arkansas, in what was locally known as "the tater house".

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.

Expansion of the Dillard's chain increased rapidly during the 1970s, mainly through expanding into new malls being built in smaller cities in Texas.

Also in 1974, the former Brown-Dunkin, Blass, Pfeifer and Mayer & Schmidt stores were fully renamed Dillard's.

In early 1984, Dillard's acquired 12 Stix, Baer & Fuller stores in St. Louis and Kansas City from Associated Dry Goods Corp.

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.

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.

[7] 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.

[8] 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.

Overall this deal enabled Dillard's to enhance its position in several markets in the South, Midwest and Mountain states.

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, when stores opened at Chandler Fashion Center in Chandler, Arizona, The Mall at Stonecrest in Lithonia, Georgia, The Mall at Wellington Green in Wellington, Florida, International Plaza and Bay Street in Tampa, Florida, and The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, Texas.

In 2005, Dillard's opened stores at Perimeter Mall and Atlantic Station in Atlanta, Georgia as well as St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, Florida.

[21] In March of 2024, Dillard's opened their first location in the upper midwest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the Empire Mall.

[22] The chain continues to expand and has recently added stores in non-traditional mall shopping centers.

[23] Its flagship store in the East Coast region, at 260,000 square feet (24,000 m2), was located in the MacArthur Center in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, closed in 2023.

[24] They are usually located within lower-income areas as the no longer high priced items are not as covetable for the general clientele Dillard's procures.

[24] The Clearance Centers rival that of a Marshalls or TJ Maxx with unknown sizes or quantities of a specific item.

[26] On a week-to-week basis, each Dillard's Clearance Center receives further markdowns by each department; older merchandise is marked down to an amount ending in "99 cents," representing a 65% discount.