The store was opened as Watts' in 1796, and became Kendal, Milne & Faulkner when three employees bought out the business and re-opened it in 1836.

As late as the early 1980's Kendal's livery and carrier bags were the same olive green and gold as Harrod's.

The store is located in a purpose-built Art Deco building on Deansgate, with 280,000 sq ft (26,000 m2) of retail space, making it Manchester's largest department store (the previous largest being Debenhams on Market Street until its closure in 2021) at 420,000 sq ft (39,000 m2).

In October 2018, it was announced that the House of Fraser store would close in late January 2019 due to being unable to sort out a crucial restructuring deal.

[11] The multi-storey car park to the west would be demolished and replaced by further office space and public realm created between the two buildings.