Merry Hill Shopping Centre closing in June 1990. A further blow came when the local council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough, announced that it was bringing in parking charges throughout the area; this turned more shoppers away from local town centres, and towards the Merry Hill Centre, where parking remains free. Though there have been plans for introducing parking charges at the centre, this has been criticised, ironically, due to fears of impacting trade. In 2008, Merry Hill Centre, along with nearby Brierley Hill, was redesignated as the 'strategic town centre' of the Dudley Borough, and thus the focus of future local government investment. The Merry
Westfield Whitford City March 1978. The former department-store chain Aherns had an outlet at Whitford City until 1985. Whitford City is currently Perth's largest shopping centre without a flagship department store, such as a Myer, David Jones or Harris Scarfe. The shopping centre has officially been part of the Westfield Group since 2004 and is currently home to over 240 speciality stores. In July 2014, the Westfield Group became two companies, Scentre Group and Westfield Corporation. The centre is now owned and managed by Scentre Group. In 1996, a Grand Cinema complex called Prithis, which is part of Greater Union, and the now