Retail Strategic Plan

Central Square Mass Ave at Night

SCOPE OF SERVICE SPECIFICATIONS

The goal of the Retail Strategic Plan was to develop a strategy of best practice policies and programs that will support and enhance the ground level active use and retail environment in Cambridge. City staff worked with the consultant Larisa Ortiz Associates (LOA) to craft this strategy by understanding the City’s current retail landscape and analyzing expected development potential and retail trends. View the Retail Strategic Plan's final report here

Additional reports, presentations, and meeting notes are available in the Documents tab below.

The following initiatives reflect recommendations from the Retail Strategy Plan:

  • The Small Business Data Dashboard launched in August 2018. The platform harnesses local market data to provide small business owners with information about Cambridge's business climate, including customer base demographics, development indicators, and more. It also links to licensing and permitting information and other small business resources available through the City. 
  • A Business Association Leadership Training was held. The daylong workshop included presentations about non-profit fundraising and management, business district marketing and branding, business district management, and digital marketing.

April 30, 2019

The Economic Development and University Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss updates from the Retail Strategy Plan. 

Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 12:00 P.M. 

Additional information and remote viewing of the meeting is available through the City's Open Meetings Portal. 

February 13, 2019

The Economic Development and University Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss updates from the Retail Strategy Plan. 

Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 12:00 P.M. 

Additional information and remote viewing of the meeting is available through the City's Open Meetings Portal

September 12, 2018

The Economic Development and University Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss the Storefront Vacancies Best Practices report recommendations, and any other updates from the Retail Strategy Plan. 

Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 4:00 P.M. 

Additional information and remote viewing of the meeting is available through the City's Open Meetings Portal

March 28, 2018

The Economic Development and University Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss implementation of the final recommendations related to the Retail Strategic Plan. The presentation can be viewed here

Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 12:00 P. M. 

Additional information and remote viewing of the meeting is available through the City's Open Meetings Portal

January 2, 2018

CDD's economic development division staff presented to the Planning Board to discuss implementation of the Retail Strategic Plan's final recommendations.

Location: City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 6:30 P.M. 

June 14, 2017

The Economic Development and University Relations Committee conducted a public hearing to discuss the final recommendations from Larisa Ortiz Associates (LOA) in regards to the Retail Strategic Plan. Policy and programmatic opportunities related to the retail environment in Cambridge were also be discussed. LOA's Retail Strategy Action Plan was presented at the meeting and is available in the Documents tab. 

Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 4:30 – 6:30 P. M. 

The meeting was livestreamed through the City's Open Meetings Portal.

May 17, 2017

After extensive community outreach, LOA presented retail data and strategy updates at 3 public meetings on May 17th. The content of each meeting was the same, although different times were provided to ensure maximum participation. The public was encouraged to attend any one of the meetings.

Carl Barron Business Forum
The Barron Forum brings together the Cambridge business community to discuss updates and is sponsored by the Cambridge Business Coalition (Cambridge Chamber, KSA, CSBA, ECBA, ISBA, HSBA and CLF) in partnership with the City Manager's Office. Please register here.
Location: Cambridge College 1000 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138
Time: 8:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M.

Economic Development and the University Relations Committee 
A public hearing will be hosted by Economic Development and the University Relations Committee. More details available here
Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 3:30 P. M. – 5:30 P. M

Retail Strategic Plan Public Presentation
A public presentation will be hosted by the Economic Development Division.
Location: City Hall, Ackerman Room, 795 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 5:30 P.M. – 7:30 P.M. 
 

March 2, 2017

Meeting with representatives of business associations (8:00-10:00 A.M. Police Headquarters, 1st Floor Community Room). 

Minutes from the Business Association Meeting with Larisa Ortiz Associates are now available here.

Please see notes organized by topic here

March 1, 2017

Meeting with representatives of neighborhood resident groups (5:30-7:00 P.M. City Hall Annex, 2nd Floor Arts Council Room). 

Minutes from the Neighborhood Resident Focus Group with Larisa Ortiz Associates are now available here.

Please see notes organized by topic here

Meeting Materials: February 14, 2017 University Relations and Economic Development Committee meeting

Presentation materials from the University Relations and Economic Development Committee meeting on February 14, 2017 are available online:

Cambridge Business Owners Survey

The survey was open until March 3, 2017. Click here for survey results. 

CDD's economic development division had an internal kick-off meeting with a consultant team from Larisa Ortiz Associates (LOA). LOA was one of two respondents to the Request for Proposals that was issued by the city in the fall of 2016.

RFP

For more information contact Pardis Saffari, Director of Economic Opportunity and Development, psaffari@cambridgema.gov, or 617/349-4654.