Retail Gentrification and Race: The Case of Alberta Street in Portland,Oregon

Abstract

Alberta Street is emblematic of Portland’s image as a city that embraces the “creative class,” ranking high in being “bohemian” and embracing “diversity.” It is a street that has had a decline in Black businesses and an increase in White ones, both mainstream and bohemian. Through interviews with longtime Black and White residents, we find that race is salient for understanding their use and opinion of the new retail sector. Many Blacks have negative feelings, and they use racial language to articulate why they dislike the products offered and how they feel culturally excluded. Longtime, mainstream White residents, in contrast, fully embrace the new retail. These findings should give pause to cities that promote economic development by making themselves attractive to the “creative class”: They may be refashioning their cities and neighborhoods—including their retail—in a way that is hostile to some forms of diversity, including longtime Black residents in gentrifying neighborhoods.