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
Meadowhall (shopping centre) 19th century Meadow Hall Iron Works, owned by John Crowley and Co., the shopping centre was built by Bovis on the site previously occupied by Hadfields' East Hecla steelworks. The centre was opened on 4 September 1990. With a floor area of , it is the eighth largest (second largest when first opened) shopping centre in the UK. It is similar in concept to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre at Brierley Hill in the West Midlands, which was completed just before Meadowhall. With over 280 stores, Meadowhall has been widely blamed for the closure of shops in Sheffield City Centre