This issue brief details measures the Mayor’s Office can and must take to keep independent stores thriving. Retailers are plagued by high rents, competition from chain stores, the internet, limited access to credit, and other stresses, but their decline is far from inevitable. This issue brief reviews creative strategies other cities are taking to strengthen local retail and maintain the diversity of their neighborhoods and calls for the mayor to appoint a retail task force to review alternatives and set course for policy to sustain small merchants.