[Paul29]

Born and raised in Hamilton, left when I was about 25 and worked for HBC. I was working at the H.O. and the Bay didn't want anything to do with downtown Hamilton.
A key draw the the other downtown Bay stores is tourism, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver thrive because of it.
Limeridge was it for them because of the urban semi upscale aspect, Eastgate was a store that managers either started in before moving to a relevant location like Burlington or Oakville, or the poor managers went to die before they were fired.
Mapleview also drew from all parts of Hamilton, so another Hamilton location would be considered redundant.

I worked downtown at Kresges when the core was going to shat, late 80's to early 90's. Even then, the Eatons store was a ghost town, Saturdays were brutal down there and Saturday is the big day for retail usually.

Jackson Square needs radical change, and I hope the library/market renovation can start them off on the right foot.