Hamilton City Centre/Lloyd Jackson Square; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Located on the west shore of Lake Ontario, Hamilton is an anchor city for the Golden Horseshoe, one of North America’s largest urban agglomerations extending from Toronto and its suburbs all the way around to the Niagara Region of St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, including Hamilton, Barrie, Mississauga, and more. According to the 2006 Canadian census, Hamilton has a population of just over 500,000 residents. The city is the third largest in Ontario and the ninth largest in all of Canada. Historically, Hamilton grew from manufacturing roots, and the city is known from many who pass by it on the QEW Expressway for its prominent steel mills.
But Hamilton is more than heavy industry; it is, instead, a multicultural melting pot with a growing economy and a thriving culture of museums, castles, gardens, and much more. Also of note is the fact that the city is bisected by a “mountain” – really a large and very steep hill called the Niagara Escarpment, but it separates Hamilton into “upper” and “lower” areas. Upper Hamilton includes the mostly suburban and residential areas west of the downtown core and away from the lake, and lower Hamilton is comprised of mostly the urban core of downtown and the low-lying areas to the east along Lake Ontario’s shore, including the heavy manufacturing areas.
In the middle of lower Hamilton’s downtown are many skyscrapers which make Hamilton’s skyline impressive, and two large urban enclosed malls which are connected and functionally operate as one, and will be referred to for practical purposes in this article as one mall: Hamilton City Centre and Lloyd Jackson Square. Located right in the center of the city, the malls share several city blocks and are bounded by King Street, Bay Street, York Boulevard and James Street. Named after former Hamilton mayor Lloyd Jackson, his namesake mall opened in 1970. The 1970s were a booming period of construction around the mall which also put up several tall skyscrapers which attach to the mall’s interior walkways, including Stelco (steel) Tower, Landmark Place and the Bank of Montreal pavilion. The main anchor to the malls was Eaton’s department store, which had been present in downtown Hamilton for decades prior. In 1977, the second phase of the mall opened including a six story office tower and in the 1980s a Sheraton and 19,000-seat coliseum opened, all attached to the mall.
However, harder times came to Hamilton in the 1990s, affecting its economy as the manufacturing jobs dwindled in the area. In 1999, a hard blow came to the Hamilton City Centre (then Eaton Centre) portion of the mall block when Eaton’s went out of business nationwide. Sears, who bought Eatons, declined to reinvest in the troubled mall and instead sold its interest and today a portion of the space is Quebec-based Hart discount department store. At that point, that portion of the mall was officially renamed Hamilton City Centre from Eaton Centre.
Today, the malls exist mainly as a support structure for people working and staying downtown. Much of the designated retail space in both the Lloyd Jackson and especially the Hamilton City Centre portions of the mall have been converted to office or other uses, or simply remain vacant. However, there is still a significant retail portion in the cavernous, winding mall, mostly centered around the large food court and adjacent to the very popular indoor farmer’s market attached to the mall.
The design and decor of the malls is also remarkable. The Lloyd Jackson and Hamilton City Centre portions of the mall, while connected and functionally one mall, are styled differently. In terms of design, the City Centre portion can effectively be considered one dead-end leg of the Lloyd Jackson center, which is larger. However, the City Centre portion is three stories whereas the Lloyd Jackson portion is mostly one story and windy. See the pictures for a better explanation of the confusing layout; we got lost at least once in the mall, which we were kind of amused by. In terms of decor, the Hamilton City Centre portion is largely a more modern, 1990s design, whereas much of the Lloyd Jackson portion is dated to the 1980s or 1970s.
Take a look at the photos we captured of the mall and downtown Hamilton from 2006, and feel free to leave your comments and stories as usual.
shaney_oyeah
January 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
The lighting in the first picture is similar to the Freehold Raceway Mall in Freehold, NJ. The diamond lights and the round ones were in the mall prior to the renovation.
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peter Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
@shaney_oyeah, wow your so right.. peter think that is cool like a cat
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JP
January 24th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
It should be noted that Eaton Centres of various sizes went up in several downtowns in Ontario in the 60s and 70s. In addition to the big one in Toronto, they also opened in Kitchener, Sarnia and Peterborough (to name 3 off the top of my head).
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peter Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
@JP, omg i like jp… im part of jp at my school….
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Jonah Norason
January 24th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I noticed one store was called “The $20 Store”. It must be an upscale dollar store…or something…
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SEAN
January 25th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Who owns the mall?
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peter Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
@SEAN, i do
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brain silo
January 25th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Two malls, two owners. Jackson Square is owned by Montreal-based Yale Properties. Hamilton City Centre is owned by Toronto-based Fercan Developments Inc.
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Rich
January 26th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
It sounds like Hamilton has hit hard times, but it doesn’t sound like its had the crime or demographic shifts that have killed off malls in the US. Yet, the story sounds awfully familiar–anchor loss and and the slow replacement of stores with other uses.
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Anonymous
February 20th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Anyone been to Sheridan Centre on Erin Mills Pkwy in Mississauga? This used to be a really nice mall just like Hamilton Eaton Centre; when Eaton’s was there it was called Eaton Sheridan Place. When Eaton’s ran into trouble, the Sheridan store was one of the first to close down in 1998. Soon after, like half of the stores in the mall shut down. Today, the former Eaton wing has been redeveloped into office space. The rest of the mall is now occupied by local independents. I think it’s just sad to see these once nice malls decay and deteriorate after losing Eaton’s. I really miss shopping at Eaton’s.
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Matt
May 13th, 2008 at 12:03 am
The mall honestly isn’t as depressing as made out to sound. A lot of the vacant retail space in Jackson Square is finding new uses all the time, whether it be expansion or retail again. The City Centre is also enjoying the fact that it is currently Hamilton’s temporary city hall until renovations at the main city hall are complete. Many stores inside of the City Centre have experienced higher sales volume since the workers have moved in.
The Farmers Market in Jackson Square is also scheduled for a massive renovation over the next 5 years. I think the food court is also getting an addition. A fairly sizeable amount of old store space has been ripped apart and looks like it is getting re-developed.
I think I would be bold enough to say that Jackson Square and the City Centre are past their worst days. Many downtown malls have suffered much worse, for some reason this one was able to hang on and now it’s getting a rebound. This can be said for downtown Hamilton as a whole though, if you search around local media.
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Maddie
July 9th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
I live in Dundas (a town near Hamilton) and my family always said Jackson Square was weird and full of gang crime. Since I started summer school at Sir John A, I have gone to the mall almost every day at lunch. I think it is really neat, and has some more resonably priced items. The movie theatre is very cool, the McDonalds is full of people and other stores are booming. Yes there is some free space but it seems to be rebuilding itself over time. Where the CityHall is temporarily located is so amazing. When I first walked in I was awe struck by the incredible height and the wonderful fountain area. I hope the place cleans itself up and continues to be a very interesting area to cruise.
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Stella
August 16th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I like to know who the architect is that designed the part of the City Centre
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Dizzy
September 28th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Last time I was in Hamilton, the space that used to be EATONS was occupied by two separate liquidation companies. I wonder if it’s still the same.
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Andy Tantchev
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Is it just me or does this mall look like it’s ready to implode. Half the stores in the mall are either some ma and pa shops while the others just look like they’re getting ready to close down. Look at the Passport office, it’s now gone and moved across the street. The Eatons area looks like a ghost town will all of the others stores either boarded up or empty.
Someone said that the food court was getting renovated. I noticed this when I was there in the summer. What’s the deal with that? why would they renovate if there is little or diminishing traffic flow?
I sure hope this place doesn’t go belly up. Are there any management people who we could get straight answers from?
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Thomas
January 30th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
The mall is rocking- i’m working there right now (looking down onto the Jackson Square foodcourt)… There are lots of people who come here to waste the day away, and during normal business hours and on Saturdays it’s very tough to fight through the crowds to get anywhere in the mall.. For those of you who think that the mall is a ‘ghost-town’, you should check out the Brantford Mall- ugh.. Honestly, I don’t think they’ll ever close this place down.
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Peter
February 17th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
For those who say that downtown hamilton is past it’s worst days you’re wrong. Downtown Hamilton is in it’s deathrolls. Jackson square and especially the old eaton centre are pathetic. Our City Hall is temporarily in a mall,lol. We also had a school in the mall called jackson high or something like that. Dollar stores run rampant. I’m guessing the old eaton centre has 3 stores max. I have always been the biggest supporter of this town but it’s become so depressing. So many people avoid the core.
The sad part is that the politicians do nothing about it. We need fresh blood in city hall who actually care about the city and don’t just collect $$ to line their wallets.
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Karen
March 4th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I used to work at the Gap in the HEC during the mid 1990s,and even then the amll was an interesting place where there was ‘higher end’ retail as well as homeless guys asking for change at the same time.
When I was there, our Gap (the ONLY Gap at the time) was across from Eddie Bauer,and next to an expesive shoe store; there was a big La Vie En Rose (think Victoria’s Secret), a Body Shop, and other “it” stores of the time as well as the big Eaton’s that I loved. There was a full food court,complete with smoking section (yes,you COULD still smoke inside then!). I left the HEC there in 1997 after graduation to work at the Gap in Limeridge , which as killing our store sales. Most of the retail was moving then, and once Eaton’s was gone, that was pretty much the end.
I was back inthe mall in 2006,and while the Jackson Square part seemed more or less okay still, the HECpart was a barren waste with the occasional dollar store/sketchy rug merchant, along with a large Indian marketplace (which was the better part). It’’s a kind of weird gangrenous limb on the City portion…because it’s all attacbed they can’t let it die,but it’s probably too far gone to resurrect as it was. It’ll be interesting to see what becomes of both retail parts,thought I think Jackson Square is more likely to survive than the HEC.
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anonymous
June 9th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I cant shop there anymore because i GET HOUNDED by homeless people asknig for money and I see young pregnant girls high on something….every time i go there i want to run away. Clean up this mall because its embarassing
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Anonymous
June 10th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I wish the homeless people played more musical instruments or at the very least cleaned up the streets for money. I’d give homeless people money if I thought they would do *something*, *anything* for it. Sitting on the street corner or following patrons around for handouts however I won’t respond to.
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Jeannette
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I LOVE Jackson Square! It’s the best place to go when I want to catch a sale, go to the library, or watch a movie. The prices are much cheaper than other malls, the food court is very diverse. There are many renovations in the making currently, and I can’t wait to see it all finished.
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Suzanne
August 6th, 2009 at 11:16 am
It’s sad what has become of the downtown core of Hamilton. The mall is a joke, and the rest of the area isn’t much better.
How about ripping down the whole core, except Gore park, and doing it over again. Couldn’t be any worse then it is.
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John Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 3:34 pm
The funny thing is that this mall was the result of “urban renewal” in 1969. The entire superblock that Lloyd D Jackson Square and the Hamilton City Centre currently occupy used to be a community of small Heritage buildings including delis, butcher shops, drug stores, clothiers, etc. All the buildings were expropriated by the city and torn down even though many of the building were heritage buildings. Forty years later there are still mixed feelings about this among those who remember the old downtown (or have read about it as I have).
So technically, this mall was a “start over”. Didn’t work so well.
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Vincent
October 4th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Hamilton is a joke. Unforuntate considering its location and natural beauty that surronds it. Hamiltonions need to come together and make some noise for change. The city has the elements to be better
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C Moore
November 16th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
There should be a map of the existing stores and other facilities available. The map in some of the aisles in Jackson Square could be available on the internet so people can find where they want to go and not stumble around at Jackson Square or here on this website, where I couldn’t find anything of help. It is so sad that when a website is posted, that all things are not considered. Some sites are sophisticated enough to help the general public and give the RIGHT informaton!!
Wake up administration office and help Hamilton a little bit if you want the shoppers to populate there.
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