Cambridge’s Porter Square Shopping Center is officially rebranding as “The Mix Porter Square,” a change already visible in new paint, murals, and expanded public seating—while local patrons split on whether the new name will ever replace the old one.
For years, the Porter MBTA stop has let you know exactly where you are. Step off the train and the plaza comes into view: Dunkin’, Panera Bread, a liquor store, a hardware store, a Star Market, and a scatter of smaller shops.
Now, the manager of the 70-year-old shopping center says the name is shifting. The Porter Square Shopping Center will be known as “The Mix Porter Square. ” a rebrand the company says is already beginning to take shape—white paint on brick facades. expanded seating options. and colorful murals meant to make the plaza feel like something new without losing what people recognize.
The changes are tied to the current ownership. Wilder. a Boston-based shopping center management firm. has been sprucing up the plaza since it was bought in 2022 by Boston-based TA Realty. Wilder says it plans more visible additions soon. including 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.
But whether locals will actually call it “The Mix” is another question.
On Tuesday, people standing and waiting in the plaza offered mixed reactions to the new name. Walton Green. 50. a biologist and longtime Cambridge resident biking through the shopping center. said he could not imagine anyone calling it anything except the Porter Square Shopping Center. Sunny Schettler. 52. a longtime trainer at a gym in the plaza called Healthworks. sat outside Cafe Zing and said she finds it “silly.” She said she doesn’t know that anyone would think of her cafe as being part of The Mix. or the hardware store as being part of The Mix. even if it’s all in the same place.
For Wilder, the goal is to make the name match the variety of what the plaza already holds. Tom Wilder. the firm’s principal. said the name is meant to reflect the contrasts found here—where mass-market chains like Dunkin’ and Panera Bread can co-exist with neighborhood staples like Cambridge Naturals. a health supply store. He also pointed to the presence of a big CVS alongside other different kinds of shoppers. including people who come for essentials and people who may simply hang around.
“It fully embodied the brand that we were trying to build,” Wilder said.
Wilder also says it isn’t new to renaming shopping districts. The company oversees close to 100 properties in New England and down the East Coast. and it has opted to rename some of them. Wilder said Watertown’s Arsenal Mall. after a major redevelopment. became Arsenal Yards. and the Walpole Mall became The Link at Walpole.
Even Cambridge has seen similar change. 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, though, has long been a holdout in naming consistency. Wilder highlighted that its largest tenant, Star Market, has been there since it opened, and so has Tags Hardware and Dunkin’—noting that Dunkin’ changed its name to “Dunkin’” in 2018.
Wilder acknowledged that replacing a generations-old name can be tough.
“I’m hoping that people will embrace it,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a little time, and that’s OK.”
The company expects official signage for The Mix to be put up sometime in July. And Wilder believes the timing could matter: it plans to lean on events this year to help the phrase catch on. A launch party is set for June 18. Wilder described possible themes built around the name. including “Mix After Dark. ” a “Back to School Mix-up. ” and a “Bike Mix-up. ” with the idea that once people start talking about what they’ll do “at The Mix. ” the name may settle more naturally.
Still, the name change may only be the first step in a bigger conversation about what the plaza becomes long-term. Wilder said the site is being considered for mixed-use housing development, though it isn’t clear when that might happen or how it would look.
For some Tuesday visitors, the change felt small enough to ignore. Pennie Randall. 72. who was visiting from Philadelphia and resting at a table in the shade. said it sounded catchy and that it would be “The Mix.” Soraya Cacici. 50. of Gloucester. said she couldn’t care less. She said she comes weekly to do yoga, stop at Cambridge Naturals, and grab a bite at Cafe Zing. As long as those places stay—which Wilder says they are. along with all current tenants—Cacici said the name doesn’t matter.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” said Cacici, a real estate broker. “Who cares what the name of it is?”
In the meantime, the plaza looks like what it’s always been: a dense pocket of everyday stops just steps from the Porter MBTA. The question is whether a new label can replace a familiar one—before the old name keeps winning every conversation.
Porter Square Cambridge MA rebranding The Mix Porter Square TA Realty Wilder MBTA retail plaza
Porter Square was fine, why change it.
The Mix sounds like something you’d name a smoothie bar. Also isn’t Porter Square the MBTA stop name? Like they’ll never update the signs lol.
My guess is they’re trying to replace ‘Porter’ because of some old lease or whatever. Wilder bought it in 2022 right? So now they paint murals and add seating and boom it’s ‘The Mix’… good luck getting the news/people to say it. I’m still gonna call it Porter Square because that’s what my GPS says.
I’m confused because the article says the Porter MBTA stop tells you where you are, but then they rebrand the shopping center. So are we calling the stop The Mix now?? That seems like a mess. If they want events and live music okay, but the name change part just feels like corporate branding trying too hard. I don’t get why people can’t just keep the original name and be normal about it.