New dawn for Merry Hill Centre as flagship lifestyle store replaces Debenhams and opens to the public
It's an international lifestyle, technology and home appliance brand which has brought life back to a once-vacant part of the Merry Hill Centre.
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The new flagship Harvey Norman store opened on Friday at the centre in Brierley Hill, filling the space left empty after Debenhams closed its store down in May 2021.
The store in Merry Hill is the first-ever store opened in England by the Australian chain, which owns more than 300 stores in eight countries across the world and sells more than 100 brands across its stores since it first opened in 1982.
It features dedicated areas for each product category, including a cooking appliance centre that has been specifically designed for Merry Hill’s visitors, and a range of in-store services including click & collect and Love Tech.
The opening of the store on Friday marked the launch of the brand on English soil, with Lachlan Roach, managing director of Harvey Norman UK, saying the store was very much based on great value, big brands and great customer service and said they had chosen Merry Hill as the site for the flagship store because of the diversity of the region.
He said: "We love the population density as the West Midlands region has more than five million people and it's a similar market to New Zealand, where we've got 46 stores, and Ireland, where we've got 16.
"We really like how dense the population is, because from a logistics standpoint, we can get to all those people in not a very big distance at all.
"Secondly to that, what we really like about the West Midlands is the vibrancy of the diversity, the different people with different tastes to support our massive range of appliances and furniture and bedding."
Mr Roach said the idea of Harvey Norman was to provide a store that had something for everyone, from a kettle that costs £19 to a SMEG kettle designed by Dolce and Gabbana which costs £599, and spoke about the type of goods sold at the store.
He said: "We focus on lifestyle, technology and innovation, so whether you're after a lounge, a bed, a big screen TV or the latest in cooking applications, Apple laptops and all that great stuff, you can come and shop with us and we've got you covered on everything.
