Merry Hill Shopping Centre had agreed to become tenants of a new department store in the final phase of the shopping complex. It opened on 23 October 1990, replacing the recently closed stores in nearby towns West Bromwich and Dudley; the retailer had hoped that its Merry Hill store could co-exist with the West Bromwich and Dudley stores, but the onset of the recession and a general downturn in trade in these towns led to the closure of both stores on 25 August 1990. On 24 December 1990, the shopping centre was sold to Mountleigh. Development of the steelworks site did not commence until
Merry Hill Shopping Centre and The Waterfront car parks. This service utilised two Travel Merry Hill owned MCW Metrobuses. The centre has around 210 stores and over 10,000 free car parking spaces, with a total retail floorspace of 154,002m² (1.593m ft²), making the centre the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, behind the MetroCentre, Bluewater, Trafford Centre and Westfield Stratford City. Merry Hill is home to anchor stores Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, Primark and Asda. Beyond the main shopping centre is a separate retail park which has a number of shops and restaurants and also a cinema. Stores in this area include Next Home,