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
Toombul Shopping Centre 2003, the centre was acquired by the Centro Properties Group in a stock trade deal involving Toombul and other Westfield properties in exchange for Centro's interest in the AMP Shopping Centre Trust. As a result, the centre changed its name from Westfield Toombul to Centro Toombul. In 2005, Centro announced a 2-stage extension to the centre. The first stage added an Aldi Food Store, Fresh Life fresh food mall and additional specialty stores. The second stage of expansion (which never commenced) was to add Diner's Life food court on the ground level and convert the old cinemas into a rooftop