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 Whitford City March 1978. The former department-store chain Aherns had an outlet at Whitford City until 1985. Whitford City is currently Perth's largest shopping centre without a flagship department store, such as a Myer, David Jones or Harris Scarfe. The shopping centre has officially been part of the Westfield Group since 2004 and is currently home to over 240 speciality stores. In July 2014, the Westfield Group became two companies, Scentre Group and Westfield Corporation. The centre is now owned and managed by Scentre Group. In 1996, a Grand Cinema complex called Prithis, which is part of Greater Union, and the now