In August 1988, its operations director at the time, Duncan Sullivan, transformed Matalan into an out-of-town warehouse-style, membership-only cash-and-carry business, inspired by Sam's Club in the United States.

[4] The retailer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Missouri Topco Limited, a holding company which is based in Guernsey, and is controlled by the Hargreaves family.

[10] In June 2020, Matalan confirmed that they would name a new chairman and a new chief commercial officer less than a month after John Mills stated he would step down from the board.

Steve Johnson succeeded Mills as the next chairperson of the value retailer, while James Brown moved into the completely new Chief Commercial Officer position at the company.

[16] In July 2014, they were the focus of a campaign by 38 Degrees and Labour Behind the Label, for failing to contribute to the official compensation fund coordinated by the ILO.