History
1930's: In the depths of the Depression, the first Minyard Food Store opened its doors on Feb. 12, 1932. Postal employee A.W. "Eck" Minyard, purchased a store at 6011 Lindsley Avenue in East Dallas for $1,200 so his younger brothers, who had just graduated from high school, would have jobs. H.C. "Henry" Minyard and M.T. "Buddy" Minyard opened the 540 square-foot clapboard store around the corner from their family's home while A.W. continued in his postal duties, running the grocery store on Sunday, his day off. As the business progressed, A.W. quit his post office job and also recruited his sister, Fay, to handle the grocery's bookkeeping.The Thirties also saw another brother join the grocery ranks. H.J. "Hap" Minyard came to work with his brothers and sister. Together, the four brothers and sister were operating two stores and one convenience store by the end of the decade.
1940's: In 1942, when the United States entered World War II, the younger Minyard brothers joined the military. Because of their absence, A.W. and Fay Minyard were forced to close all stores but the original. The sign on the closed stores read, "Closed. Gone to War. Be back after Hitler's funeral." After the war, three new stores were added quickly.
1950's: Growth came quickly. Six new stores were built, including the first store outside of Dallas County, which opened in McKinney in 1957. The family business closed out the Fifties with the opening of its largest store to date and the first supermarket in Lancaster---a 25,000 square foot unit featuring new technology of the day such as mercury vapor lighting, a 200-car capacity parking lot, automatic air-operated doors, background music, acoustic ceilings and air-conditioning.
1960's: By 1960, Minyard saw $15 million in sales, owned 11 stores, paid for four more sites, and had plans for an additional 20 units. A 70,000 square-foot complex was purchased in 1961 on Cedar Springs Street in Dallas for use as Minyard's central office and distribution center. Three to five boxcar loads of merchandise were unloaded at the warehouse daily to be distributed to the chain's stores once a week on Fridays. A fleet of ten trailers was used to distribute the merchandise to the stores. By the end of the decade, the family-owned chain had expanded to 16 stores.
1970's: The decade of the Seventies was a time of unprecedented growth for Minyard, characterized by property expansion and the addition of 21 new stores. By 1978, nine shopping centers also were owned by Minyard Properties Inc., with plans for more. A 1979 super-store grand opening in Mesquite brought scanning and bar codes into the chain, and plans for a new corporate headquarters and distribution facility were made to accommodate the expanding chain. Spearheading the planning of the new facility were
Bob and H.C. "Henry" Minyard. Sadly, Henry Minyard did not live to see the ground broken for the new complex. On Christmas Day, of 1979, he suffered a fatal heart attack. At that time, the second generation of the Minyard family was introduced into the executive arena with the naming of nephew Bob Minyard as the company's new president.
1980's: August of 1981 brought about the move of the corporate office and distribution center to a new 394,954 square-foot facility situated on an 85-acre portion of land in Coppell, conveniently located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth. With a goal of opening 50 stores by its golden anniversary in 1982, Minyard surpassed its own prediction with a total of 53. Entering the market with a new shopping concept, the first Sack'n Save Warehouse Food Store debuted in 1982 in Haltom City. Possibly the greatest challenge ever attempted by Minyard surfaced in 1987 when the company purchased 27 Safeway stores and opened 24 of those within a matter of five days. Three others opened only a few months later, bringing the total number of units to 62 Minyard stores and 10 Sack'n Saves.
1990's: In 1990, the company opened its third division of stores called Carnival Food Stores. Company executives knew their demographics were changing . . . they knew that a significant portion of their customer base was culturally rooted in distinct ethnic traditions, and. . . they knew that few supermarkets were customizing to this narrower band of demographics. So, they decided to test a new concept by opening three stores under the name of "Carnival" that catered specifically to the Hispanic consumer. The sales volume in two of the stores immediately doubled . . . and in one of the three, the sales volume tripled. By the end of the decade, the company operated 21 Carnival stores. In January 1997, the company entered into the gasoline business by opening two gasoline stations adjacent to two Dallas Minyard supermarket locations. The eight-pump state-of-the-art gasoline stations offered competitive prices and pay at the pump features. By the end of 1999, a dozen gasoline stations had opened at a variety of Minyard, Sack'n Save and Carnival Food Store locations.
2000's: After 72 years in business, the Minyard family sold Minyard Food Stores Inc. on October 29, 2004, to Acquisition Vehicle Texas II, LLC, a Texas-based investment company, which conducts business under the name Minyard Group. The Minyard Group is led by Ron McDearmon, President and CEO. Minyard Food Stores Inc. currently operates 14 supermarkets, 10 pharmacies and 5 fuel stations. Minyard Food Stores employs a workforce of over 975.