Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and children's clothing, as well as footwear and accessories, cosmetics and fragrance, homewares, electrical, connected home, furniture, toys, books and stationery, food and confectionery, and travel goods.

[2] In 1911, Myer purchased the business of Wright and Neil, Drapers, in Bourke Street, Melbourne, near the General Post Office, and a new building was completed and opened in 1914.

[6] Myer grew by developing its own stores (becoming one of Australia's major property owners and developers in the process) and acquiring other department stores, including Adelaide's Marshall's and Bell's (Victor Harbor, Mount Barker, Murray Bridge and Strathalbyn and Tailem Bend) in South Australia, Western Australia's Boans in 1984, Queensland's Barry & Roberts as well as McWhirters of Brisbane's Fortitude Valley in 1955 and Allan & Stark in 1959, in Victoria Paterson Powell Pty Ltd in 1953 (Ballarat), Bilson's (Colac) and Shilliday's (Mildura), and in New South Wales they acquired Western Stores, McLean's Central Stores (Lismore), Morley's (Tweed Heads), Farmers & Co in 1961, Mortimer's (Gosford) in 1968, P.G.Smith & Regans (Tamworth) in 1953 and Grace Bros in 1983.

[8] The core business of the company began to expand even further with the purchase of liquor retailers (San Remo and Crittendens) and fast food outlets (Red Rooster).

In 2000, Coles Myer CEO Dennis Eck, faced with lower sales and profits from Myer and Grace Bros stores took the department stores down market, reducing service levels, increasing stock volumes on the selling floor and introducing product to appeal to younger consumers.

[14] In 2003, one of the key changes made by the recently appointed Managing Director, Dawn Robertson, was to classify each Myer Grace Bros store using a grid system referencing the socio-economic status of the area, its turnover and growth potential.

The grid would affect the merchandise allocated to each store, rather than selling the same range of product in downtown Melbourne as in regional Queensland.

It was the first Myer store to open in several years and incorporated new features such as white glossy floor tiles, extensive use of glass, and greater use of mannequins.

[citation needed] Under managing director Dawn Robertson, Myer began to target the Sydney market more strongly, to challenge the position of chief rival David Jones particularly in ladies fashion.

On 9 August 2004, Myer staged a fashion parade open-air in Martin Place, gaining widespread attention, and again it was held the day before David Jones' show.

Beginning July 2006, Myer held a "History Making Clearance" to clear out excess stock deemed either unprofitable or unpopular, and reduced inventories from $1.5 billion to $750 million, and all store-specific warehouses were closed.

In March 2007, Myer announced first half earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $123 million, an increase of 84% on the previous year.

Among other functions, Mymerch increased Myer's ability to carry out statistical analysis of customer habits giving it greater capacity to forecast sales trends and target promotions.

[24] This followed reports of management dissatisfaction over the direction of the fashion business signified by the defection of designers such as Alex Perry and Tigerlily to David Jones.

The Bourke Street part of the store was planned to be redeveloped by 2009, with Myer taking a 60-year lease,[26] but the development was not completed until March 2011.

[34][35] In January 2014, it was revealed by Fairfax Media that Myer had made a bid to purchase and merge with department store rival David Jones.

[citation needed] The resulting dilution of shareholder value in conjunction with little support for the actions in the strategic plan saw the share price decline to $0.91.

[47] Myer originally had a store card managed by Australian Retail Financial Network (ARFN), sold in 1995 to GE Money.

[52][53] The national flagship store is located in the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne and received a $300 million redevelopment which officially opened in April 2011.

The amusement park closed in the year 2000 and all the rides dismantled in preparation to convert the top two levels into a cinema complex.

This project was delayed due to problems with the acquisition of land; however, in late October 2012 a Myer store opened in that centre.

[55] In 2007, Chairman Bill Wavish stated Myer was willing to build new stores if necessary, and that new locations could be in any city or town with a population over 40,000 people.

[56] On 22 September 2007, Myer's Liverpool Street, Hobart building was destroyed by a fire that is believed to have started in the cosmetic section.

[citation needed] In 2012, Myer also proposed a 12,000sqm 2 level full-line department store at Casuarina Square in Darwin, which would’ve been the first of its kind in the city and the Northern Territory.

These eight clearance floors ran from 2017 until 2019, intended to compete with the newly established international discount department store TK Maxx.

Newly appointed CEO John King announced a plan to discontinue the model in 2019, with a stronger focus on its premium offerings.

[citation needed] In September 2017, Myer stated it would close three more stores, Colonnades (Replaced by Cheap as Chips, Best & Less and JB Hi-Fi), Belconnen, and Hornsby.

[citation needed] In March 2021, Myer announced its store at Westfield Knox, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs would close after 44 years of operation.

[citation needed] In August 2022, Myer announced its Frankston store in bayside Melbourne would close permanently, with the last day of trading scheduled for 15 January 2023.

[75] In 2011, Myer launched a Hong Kong based online shopping site called myfind.com (since closed) for Australian shoppers.