Jackson Square

There are a few good stores but too few to mention. Avoid that Board games store! I was just ignored by some douche-​nerds.

Not one of my favourite shopping centers in GTA. It’s old and dark on the inside, with not many interesting stores. It’s rather sad, because this mall is at the core of Downtown Hamilton, and for a Downtown mall with many businesses around, it’s definately not very attractive, especially if we are comparing it to Toronto’s Eaton Center.
There are a lot of homeless people around this mall who ask you for help occassionally. Once in a while, I see what I can do.
The only places that i come to this mall for is Nations Supermarket, The Works Burger and Honest Lawyer, which have a fairly newer appearance.
On the other side of the mall and attached to it is the City Centre, which is much brighter.

It’s really difficult to review a mall, since it’s a building with various businesses that I may or may not have been to; but I liked Jackson Square.
Yes, there are homeless people just sitting there and, yes, they may ask you for money; but I didn’t really have a problem with them. Mostly, they just sat and stared at me while I felt guilty for walking out with shopping bags. However, if you want to avoid them, go in through the library.
I just love how convenient it is.
Here’s a list of some things you can find in the mall (or connected to it):
— The Hamilton Public Library: super modern and updated
— Nations Supermarket: your one-​stop shop for grocery items and cool Asian foodstuffs
— The Hamilton Farmers’ Market: open year-​round on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays
— LCBO: a liquor and wine store
— a movie theater
— a pharmacy/​drug store
— various banks and ATMs
— a gym
— a surprisingly diverse food court consisting of more than just a Taco Bell and a generic Chinese takeout place
— pretty decent shopping with fair prices
— cool specialty boutiques
— lots of restaurants and coffee shops
— a dollar store for snacks and small essentials
During my ten-​day stay in Hamilton, I gotta say that 10% of my trip was spent at this mall. I actually liked it more than Lime Ridge. And to anyone saying that it’s a dead mall — I beg to differ — come to Lake Wales, FL and see what a real dead mall looks like (I’m looking at you, Eagle Ridge Mall). Jackson Square is definitely on the rise and they’re renovating; many places look very new, but there are wings that look like they hailed from another era. The upper levels seems to be occupied by various companies and schools.
My only tiff is that the layout is very weird. It took me a couple visits to really know where I was going, but I wish they’d planned it better. I guess they just kept expanding and building as time went on.
Overall, worth a visit and very convenient.
Pro-​Tip: This is probably very «American» of me, but there’s no free sampling allowed in the food court (they stared at my cousins and me like crazy when we asked to try the Sweet Chicken at the Chinese place in the food court). However, there are free refills for certain places, so there’s that.

When you’re not being bothered by homeless people asking you for smokes or for «Bus fare» so they can get to their «jobs’ Or when you’re not busy dodging the countless number of scooters that zip through the mall, nearly hitting people everywhere they go. Then they give you a glare because YOU got in their way.
After all that, theres 1 or 2 OK places to eat and a GREAT board game store. Other than that, you’re dodging scooters and telling people you don’t smoke.

While Jackson Square has seen some tough times, it’s definitely on the upswing. Lots of new shops moving in (Starbucks, New York News, McMaster University) and it seems that management is making a definite effort to clean up some of the nastier ‘thug’ element. I’m here every few days to do banking and grocery shopping — it’s come a long way and continues to get better! Also, Nations is AWESOME. By far my favourite grocery store in the city. :)

Yuck! One of the worst «malls» ever. It’s dark, dank and full of stinky patrons. There aren’t any good stores here as well. All low budget brands and dollar stores. The cafeteria is perhaps the slimiest I’ve ever been to. Don’t ever go in here unless you have to. Not fit for human consumption!

Honestly the malls a hidden gem (minus the bums and gangster wanabee’s) i live in Toronto and only stumbled upon the mall by accident and find out there are some really amazing deals to be found! Its not like every other mainstream mall with all the big box store labels so if thats what your all about, its not for you. My favorite are the little unique boutiques is this little fashion jewerly boutique that iv been going to for years its BLING BLING HEAVEN called Genie & 1001 nights ! Nothing like it ANYWHERE! Theres also an amazing super market called Nations that has alot of oriental inspired products that other markets dont have. Need a better parking arrangement however!

The Nations supermarket is a great mix of eastern and western foods. Now one my favorite place to shop Asian foods. but the mall itself and parking arrangements are not great.
Thumbs up for Nations, thumbs down for being charged $ 3.00 above the free parking offered from Nations.
The parking is small, smells bad and the ticket machine is awkward and difficult to access from inside your car.

If Detroit were a mall it would be Jackson Square.
It hasn’t seen an update of any kind for at least 20 years and it seems that every third store is vacant. Most of the major, name brand chains have all pulled out leaving mainly only no name shops and messy discount stores which all seem to offer the latest Chinese made overstock crapola and cheap fashion knock offs.
The patrons are an interesting mix of thugs, homeless people and new Canadians. Last time I was in there I saw a guy screaming rather harshly at his girlfriend right inside the mall in front of everyone. Nice.
It closes at 6 which I think is more of a safety precaution for shoppers due to its downtown Hamilton location as walking around down there at night can be sketchy especially when you are carrying shopping bags.
That being said the Farmers Market is great, so is Nations grocery store and I do love the cheap movies at the Empire theatre. Also I find that the stores offer some really good deals especially down in the forgotten part of the mall that looks like the Eaton Centre. If you can find it. The mall is a bit of a maze and the one store locator in the entire mall is outdated and almost impossible to find. The LCBO there is tiny and the selection is sparse and an inquiry about a vintages section will be met with a laugh.
Think of a trip to the ghetto fabulous mall that time forgot as an adventure. A trip to the far reaches of sanity and reason. Look at it that way and Jackson Square suddenly doesn’t seem so bad.
Good luck!

Early-90’s themed mall? Yes! This place is amazing, it feels like I went in a time machine. Unfortunately some of the stuff is from the 80’s or 2000’s. They need to stick to their theme. Then I might give them 4 stars.

Run for your life. If a zombie apocalypse starts in Canada, trust me. it starts here. Inside is a downtrodden mall so quiet, it might as well be a mausoleum. Outside is home to most of the downtown core’s street community. The homeless seem to be on every bench and in every bus shelter. Truly an uncomfortable place to walk.
Run away run away. Do not walk! The zombies will get you here!!!

This mall isn’t the best for shopping as it always closes early and the store selection is limited. However, Jackson Square does offer many other useful facilities. Inside the mall you will find a Farmers Market, a movie theatre, an LCBO, a library, a hotel, bars and more.
Attached to the mall is the City Centre which contains Hart, an affordable department store. If you are looking to shop you would be much better suited going to Limeridge Mall, but Jackson Square has it’s benefits too.

Worst shopping mall ever!
I’m not going to sugarcoat it, there is nothing in Jackson Square. You can walk through the entire mall in under ten minutes and probably see at least twenty stores that are closed or vacated. Not to mention, the mall is eerily quiet and sometimes you will be the only person walking down a hallway. With a newly renovated multimillion dollar farmers market now open, it makes you wonder, why was this opened? Most of the foods in the farmers market are not locally grown, or even grown in Canada. For instance, I’ve never seen a pineapple, orange or kiwi tree in Canada, yet those items are all available at the … «local farmers market». Also, there is a renovated state of the art library now open beside the farmers market. Yet again making you question, why was this renovated? Libraries are becoming a dying trend, and this is proven once you enter the facility. Everyone is only in there to use the free internet, and roam Facebook. No one is reading, and the atmosphere makes you feel like you are in a gray industrial building.
If you actually want to buy clothing or something with substance, I suggest going to Limeridge or Eastgate mall. Jackson Square is an embarrassment.