As part of the City's overall Economic Development Work Plan, the City partnered with TRI Commercial -- a nationally known real estate firm -- to produce a Citywide Retail Commercial Study & Analysis. TRI produced two documents that are now available on the City's website:
- Citywide Retail Commercial Analysis; and,
- Martinez Retail Marketing brochure.

TRI’s analysis shows that Martinez has potential to attract high quality retail – and their analysis identified more than 20 specific retail categories that could potentially be attracted to Martinez. The categories include: specialty grocery, wine shops, discount department stores, boutique fitness, furniture, sports & outdoor recreation, and other types of shopping.

TRI also identified several challenges that Martinez must address to reach its full potential to attract high-quality retail. In particular, TRI concluded that, to support the existing shops and restaurants in Downtown, it is necessary to attract more housing units close to the Downtown's transit hub. TRI also recommended looking at ways to take better advantage of the Amtrak Station (which attracts more than 250,000 riders daily), County offices, development of the Marina, capitalizing on the City's historic heritage, visibility along Highway 4, and other assets.

City staff is using both the retail analysis and the marketing flyer as tools to plan out the City’s retail attraction efforts for 2024. In particular, staff plans to attend a regional retail conference (ICSC) in March 2024. The ICSC conference will give staff the opportunity to learn more about current retail trends and opportunities, promote Martinez to the retail community, and meet with potential tenants and brokers.