City of Portland, OR
03/20/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 03/20/2026 16:10
City of Portland releases study and recommendations to support longstanding local businesses
Label:News article
View full size image of The outside of a barber shop with a woman in the forefront, waving. This is a historic black and white photo.
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability study examines the role legacy businesses play in Portland's communities, the challenges they face, and opportunities for the City to better support them through targeted programmatic action.
Published
March 20, 2026 1:21 pm
A business representing Portland's past, present, and future
Portland is home to many beloved longstanding local businesses that make up the city's character-defining history and neighborhood charm. At 70 years old, Dean's Beauty Salon and Barber Shop is one of them.
Already designated as a Historic Landmark, Dean's is believed to be the oldest continuously operating Black-owned barber shop in Portland. Located in Lower Albina-the heart of Portland's Black community during the postwar era-Dean's has weathered sweeping demographic and social changes brought about through urban renewal, disinvestment, gentrification, and displacement.
Despite these headwinds, Dean's remains a cultural anchor and trusted community asset for multiple generations of Portlanders. Yet as owner Kimberly Brown begins to plan for retirement, she faces familiar challenges shared by many longstanding local businesses-costly building maintenance and modernization needs, rising operating expenses, and the need to attract younger clientele to sustain the business into the next generation.
Dean's is one of an estimated 1,100-1,500 "legacy businesses" in Portland.
Portland's Legacy Business Preservation Study
View full size image of Hollywood Theatre in Northeast Portland, including ornate facade, lighted marquee, and vertical lighted sign reading "Hollywood."
The Hollywood Theatre on NE Sandy Blvd. has served its namesake neighborhood since 1926.
In February, Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability published the Legacy Business Preservation Study and Program Recommendations, which makes a case for establishing a new Legacy Business Preservation Program that would honor and support these vital cultural institutions.
Publication of the Legacy Business Preservation Study marks the culmination of a multi-year effort to define legacy businesses in the Portland context, document why they matter, assess threats and gaps in existing City support systems, learn from legacy business programs nationwide, and make recommendations for establishing new City service offerings.
For the purposes of the study, legacy businesses were defined as independently owned, public-facing enterprises that have operated continuously for 20 or more years and have made meaningful contributions to community history, character, and identity.
Why legacy businesses matter
Portland's longstanding local businesses are also key to regional, citywide, and neighborhood-level economic strength and resilience They are more likely than their competitors to source their inputs and services from local suppliers. They also support tens of thousands of local jobs, pay billions of dollars in wages and benefits, and contribute billions more to the city's and region's respective GDPs.
Legacy businesses also play a crucial role in heritage tourism and civic branding, driving tourism-related revenues and contributing to Portland's reputation as a cultural destination. Visitors don't come to Portland to eat, drink, and shop at national chains-they come to experience Powell's City of Books, historic neighborhood movie theaters, and venerable cafés, restaurants, bars, and brew pubs.
An urgent challenge
Portland is losing legacy businesses at a devastating pace in the wake of the COVID pandemic. Threats include rising commercial rents, increased operating costs, thin margins in key business sectors, challenges with succession planning, and inequities in access to capital.
The closure of beloved establishments since 2020 has left voids that cannot be repaired by new business formation alone. Without targeted intervention, Portland risks continued erosion of the institutions that give the city's neighborhoods a sense of place, continuity, and resilience. While the City of Portland offers a range of business support programs (such as Prosper Portland's Office of Small Business), none are tailored to address the unique challenges facing the city's legacy businesses. The Legacy Business Preservation Study recommends that Portland joins the 24 other cities around the country in establishing a dedicated legacy business support program.
Independent grocer Sheridan Fruit Company served Portlanders and local businesses for 110 years before its closure in February 2026. The business occupied a prominent location in the historic Produce Row area of Portland's Central Eastside.Study purpose and research approach
Direct engagement with longstanding Portland businesses, community-based organizations, and the public was central to the study. Staff conducted in-person interviews with dozens of longstanding businesses and community-based organizations, and distributed questionnaires that generated over 230 responses from business owners and members of the public. Seventy percent of business respondents and eighty-four percent of public respondents expressed support for implementation of a new program specifically tailored to the needs of legacy businesses.
Program recommendations
The study makes seven programmatic recommendations designed to fill gaps in support, complement existing City business support offerings, and address the unmet needs of legacy businesses. These recommendations are organized into two categories:
1. Establish and Maintain a Legacy Business Register
The Legacy Business Register would confer honorific recognition to select longstanding businesses and serve as the official roster of program participants.
2. Provide Services and Benefits
Businesses listed on the Register would be eligible for targeted services and benefits, including promotional support, succession planning consultation, dedicated staff support, and responsive financial assistance.
Together, these actions would be intended to prevent the loss of legacy businesses by supporting those at the highest risk of displacement or closure, facilitating intergenerational ownership transitions, and investing in the retention and restoration of character-defining physical features (such as historic signs and storefronts) that contribute to Portland's distinctive sense of place.
Next steps
The Legacy Business Preservation Study is available for public review. The study's recommendations will be considered as future City work plans are developed.
City of Portland, OR published this content on March 20, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on March 20, 2026 at 22:11 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]