Cornbow Shopping Centre

My latest visit to the Cornbow (this morning), saw me reluctantly head on in to get a Greggs, despite my initial hesitation.
Being 20 years old, it seems as though this particular shopping centre has been there forever, from when I went swimming at Halesowen leisure centre in Primary School, to, well, this morning.
Inside/​outside, you are met by the two ends of the spectrum, kids who might rob your shoes off your feet if you dare to blink (slight exaggeration) and the elderly, who seem to love the place.
Overall, I’m not a fan. The majority of the shops inside are outdated and the surrounding area is average at best. The bus station outside may be a glimmer of hope in an otherwise uninspiring area, but all, in all, it’s not for me.

I went to college in Halsowen and the Cornbow sucked then, its even worst now Asda and come and upset the balance of where people spend money in Halsowen.
Every time i walked to the butchers to get a pork sandwich, i always wondered «is this the best they could do?» The place is so drab it has the potential to ruin your day with its aggressive greys slapping you in the face as your trying to each your pork scratchings.
At Christmas they put up a tree and have robot penguins dancing around the Centre (near Argos) and that’s even more depressing. Depressing because that’s when you realise someones actually running this place and it takes them a year to sort out these robot penguins and they are still rubbish.
The shops are mainly all chain but if your making a day of it head over to merry hill, a slightly less depressing pit of consumerism.

Gah! I really dislike this place. I try to be positive with my reviews, but I’m struggling here. The Cornbow has a decent butchers shop (just outside Asda)? The car park has a fun helter-​skelter ramp thingy?
I’m clutching at straws here.
I just find the place, and the shops within it, to be a bit depressing. It has a Gamestation, Argos, Asda, Supedrug, New Look…
…you get the idea. It also has a few independents thrown in for good measure. I’m pretty certain that they were playing muzak during my last visit. There isn’t anything special about the place. The arrival of the three-​story Asda has pretty much killed the rest of the centre — sucking shoppers in to it like some sort of glowing green retail vortex.
I’m biased against the place because a guy barged into me with his trolley whilst I was in the lift. It really bugged me because he didn’t even apologise. Not really the Cornbow Centre’s fault, but it makes me suspicious of anywhere that encourages «trolley in lift» scenarios.

Cornbow is absolutely fine. It has a range of high street chains as you’d expect — Clarks, New Look, the odd charity shop. It serves a purpose, and in Halesowen that purpose is to provide reliable chain stores where you know you can grab a pair of sandals or a cardigan and you know roughly what you’ll pay and even what it’ll look like. (Chain shops = reliability + copycat fashion)
I think it’s amazing it’s still relatively full of shops — my local shopping centre in Wolverhampton is falling to pieces and full of empty shops making it one of the most depressing places to visit. In contrast, this fills a necessary niche in the shopping landscape of Halesowen.