By Spencer Buell, The Boston Globe
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CAMBRIDGE — Just steps from the Porter MBTA stop, there it is. A Dunkin’ and a Panera Bread. A liquor store, a hardware store, a Star Market, and lots of other smaller places scattered in between.
For many long years, this was the Porter Square Shopping Center. But that was then.
Now it’s something else. Now, according to the company that now manages it, it’s The Mix Porter Square.
As in: “Want to meet for a spring roll at The Mix?” Or: “I’m going to the supermarket at The Mix.” Or: “I’m all out of ashwagandha tincture. Mind stopping at The Mix?”
Such is the vision of Wilder, the Boston-based shopping center management firm that has been sprucing up the 70-year-old plaza since it was bought in 2022 by Boston-based TA Realty.
Recent visitors may have noticed expanded seating options, some colorful murals, and a fresh coat of white paint on the brick facades of the stores.
Soon they can expect more events like live music and outdoor exercise classes, a Little Free Library, and the return of a community bulletin board that had earlier been removed.
They will also be expected to call the place The Mix.
Whether locals will actually do that, of course, remains to be seen.
Reviews from patrons at the plaza on Tuesday were, well, mixed.
“I cannot imagine anyone calling it anything except the Porter Square Shopping Center,” said Walton Green, 50, a biologist and longtime Cambridge resident who was biking through the plaza.
“I just think it’s all kind of silly,” said Sunny Schettler, 52, a longtime trainer at a gym in the plaza called Healthworks, who was lounging in the shade outside Cafe Zing, the plaza’s locally owned coffee shop. “I don’t know that anyone would think of this cafe as being part of The Mix, or the hardware store as being part of The Mix. So, good luck.”
The name is meant to reflect the contrasts found here, said Tom Wilder, the firm’s principal.
This is a space where Cafe Zing and mass-market chains like Dunkin’ and Panera Bread can co-exist, where there is space for both Cambridge Naturals, a health supply store that is a neighborhood staple, and a big CVS.
It’s also meant, Wilder explained, to reflect the blend of uses for a modern shopping destination, where there are as many shoppers buying essentials as there are people just hanging around.
“It fully embodied the brand that we were trying to build,” he said.
They do have lots of experience in this realm. Wilder said the company oversees close to 100 properties in New England and down the East Coast, some of which it has opted to rename.
On its watch, Watertown’s Arsenal Mall, after a major redevelopment, became Arsenal Yards. The Walpole Mall became The Link at Walpole.
There is precedent for switcheroos of this kind in Cambridge. The Cambridgeside Galleria mall dropped “The” and “Galleria” in 2017. After its metamorphosis more than a decade ago, a large part of Somerville’s Assembly Square neighborhood became Assembly Row.
The Porter Square Shopping Center, for its part, has been notable for its staying power. Its largest tenant, Star Market, has been there since it opened, as has Tags Hardware, and Dunkin’ Donuts (ahem, Dunkin’, since its rebrand in 2018).
Wilder acknowledges it can be hard for a new name to stick, especially when it replaces one that’s been around for generations.
“I’m hoping that people will embrace it. Sometimes it takes a little time, and that’s OK.”
Official The Mix signage is expected to be put up sometime in July.
Given enough time, Wilder hopes a slate of events this year will help the new name roll off the tongue a bit easier, including a launch party set for June 18.
“It’s an easy word to say. ‘I’m going to The Mix to see live music,’” Wilder said. “We could have an event called Mix After Dark, or a Back to School Mix-up or a Bike Mix-up. All sorts of things that we can play up that name now. And that’s when the name starts to sink in a little bit more.”
No matter what people actually call it, the plaza may take a very different shape in the long-term. Wilder said the site is being considered for mixed-use housing development, although it isn’t clear when that might happen or how that might look.
For some who were just passing through the plaza on Tuesday and are less invested in it, the name change seemed harmless enough.
“Sounds catchy,” said Pennie Randall, 72, who was visiting from Philadelphia and resting at a table in the shade. “They have so many different things in here. It would be The Mix.”
Soraya Cacici, 50, of Gloucester, meanwhile, couldn’t care less. She said she comes here weekly to do yoga, stop at Cambridge Naturals, and grab a bite at Cafe Zing. So long as those places are staying (and Wilder says they are, as are all the current tenants), she’s fine.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” said Cacici, a real estate broker. “Who cares what the name of it is?”
