Merry Hill Shopping Centre store by well over a decade, only closing when the retailer went into liquidation over the 2008/09 winter. The completion of Merry Hill resulted in the loss of many big name retailers from nearby town centres, with Dudley arguably being the hardest hit, suffering a 70% decline in retailing market share following Merry Hill's opening. However, some retailers kept their stores in nearby towns open, despite opening new stores at Merry Hill. WH Smith, who have been at Merry Hill since 1989, still have a store in Halesowen, and even opened a new store in Stourbridge during the 1990s. The
Westfield Stratford City Westfield Stratford City Westfield Stratford City is a shopping centre in Stratford, London, which opened on 13 September 2011. With a total retail floor area of , it is one of the largest urban shopping centres in Europe, and the fourth-largest shopping centre in the UK by retail space, behind Westfield London, the MetroCentre, and the Trafford Centre. Taking the surrounding shopping area into account, it is the second largest urban shopping centre in the European Union. Originally fully owned by the Westfield Group, in November 2010 ABP Pension Fund and CPP Investment Board each purchased a 25% shareholding, with