Meadowhall (shopping centre) 19th century Meadow Hall Iron Works, owned by John Crowley and Co., the shopping centre was built by Bovis on the site previously occupied by Hadfields' East Hecla steelworks. The centre was opened on 4 September 1990. With a floor area of , it is the eighth largest (second largest when first opened) shopping centre in the UK. It is similar in concept to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre at Brierley Hill in the West Midlands, which was completed just before Meadowhall. With over 280 stores, Meadowhall has been widely blamed for the closure of shops in Sheffield City Centre
Retail park at households owning a car, though there are often also bus services. They are an alternative to busy city centres. Such developments have been encouraged by cheaper, more affordable land on the outskirts of towns and cities, and with loose planning controls in a number of Enterprise Zones, making planning and development very easy. In recent years, in many areas across the UK, planning controls have been tightened to preserve the countryside. This has made it more difficult for such developments to proceed, resulting in many smaller, more compact retail parks, sometimes consisting of only three or four stores being