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 Helensvale been refurbished for local shopping. The Westfield Helensvale shopping centre has predominately mall enclosed shopping and only a few shops open to outside traffic. Many other Westfield shopping centres conversely are often fully enclosed malls, however the company is redeveloping a number of sites (such as Garden City) to include outdoor, piazza style areas. Westfield Helensvale has 2,000 car parking spaces, all of which are free. The shopping centre is adjacent to Helensvale railway station, which is serviced by various buses and trains to local areas and Brisbane. Westfield Helensvale Westfield Helensvale also referred to as Helensvale Town Centre, is