Merry Hill Shopping Centre and local council leaders have stated their aim to better connect and integrate Merry Hill with the traditional town centre of Brierley Hill. The Dudley Canal was re-routed in the late-1990s, and between 2002-2005, housing has been developed around the complex (several apartment blocks opposite the cinema as well as apartments and houses overlooking Pedmore Road). A new line of the West Midlands Metro tram system was scheduled to reach the site in 2011, but has been delayed indefinitely. In July 2017, plans were revealed to expand the centre to include more restaurants and to open a new Odeon cinema
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,