"Eck" Minyard, a postal employee, purchased a store at 6011 Lindsley Avenue in East Dallas for $1,200.

When the United States entered World War II, the younger Minyard brothers joined the military.

and Fay Minyard, closed all of the stores, with the exception of the original East Dallas location.

At 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), the Lancaster Minyard featured new technology such as mercury vapor lighting, a 200-car parking lot, automatic air-opened doors, background music, and air-conditioning.

Henry, however, suffered a fatal heart attack on December 25, 1979, and didn't live to see the ground broken on the new complex.

In August 1981, the corporate headquarters and distribution center moved to a 394,954-square-foot (36,692.4 m2) facility in Coppell, between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Leadership of the company passed to his two daughters, Lisbeth "Liz" Minyard and Gretchen Minyard Williams and CEO J. L. "Sonny" Williams In 1990, the company announced that it would open a new store format dedicated to the growing, mostly under-served minority population in ethnic neighborhoods.

Operating under the name Carnival Food Stores, ethnic merchandise was offered in addition to traditional grocery products depending on the neighborhood it served.

The concept proved to be successful and Minyard announced plans to open four additional Carnival Food Stores by late 1991.

The most notable entrant was North Carolina-based Food Lion, which planned on opening 50 stores in the area.

[2] In January 1997, the company entered into the gasoline business by opening two gas stations adjacent to two Minyard supermarkets in Dallas.

[3] With its market share declining due to pressure from larger chains (such as Walmart putting full grocery stores in their Walmart Super Centers, and Target and Kmart doing the same), Minyard sold its 37 Carnival stores to a group including Houston-based Fiesta Mart, Inc. in 2008.

RLS kept the Minyard name on all of them; the locations included Dallas, Duncanville, Balch Springs, Fort Worth, Irving, Lancaster, and Mesquite.

The remaining Sun Fresh Market stores would be operated by RLS, but the sale resulted in the Minyard name disappearing from the DFW landscape with the exception of a single store which operated until August 17, 2017, which ended the 85-year old Minyard chain.