The business was formed by Barry and Geraldine Ricketts with Alan Mitchell as part of the family-owned Raysun Group Plc in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1991, and by the early 2000s had expanded operations across the United Kingdom.

[3] John Caudwell claimed "I am committed to making [the chain] the number one for boys' toys and gadgets in the UK", as well as citing ideas for flagship stores in major city locations.

[10] In 2009, The Discovery Store trademark was purchased from The Caudwell Group by Barry and Geraldine Ricketts, who used it to re-open the chain.

[12] In 2010, when questioned about his biggest business failure, John Caudwell stated that "I put too much effort into running a chain of gadget stores, “Must Have It”, in about 2002.

I founded this as a national chain and stuck with it far too long, persevering for maybe two years, but the formula didn’t work.