Where to shop when you visit Ascent Technology

Stores within a short walk from Ascent Technology

Ascent Technology is located at One Kendall Square, the former site of the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, near the corner of Hampshire Street and Broadway in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA, at the northern edge of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.

There are plenty of places to shop in and near Kendall Square.

The MIT Coop, at 3 Cambridge Center, stocks textbooks for MIT courses, as well as MIT sweatshirts, T shirts, hats, and just about anything else you can think of that has room for the MIT name or seal. (There is another, smaller, MIT Coop in the MIT Stratton Student Center on the other side of campus.)

The MIT Press Bookstore, at 55 Hayward Street, just across Main Street from the MIT Coop, stocks books published by The MIT Press. The selection of books, written by MIT professors and researchers, is outstanding.

In addition, Kendall Square has a combination deli/convenience store, a florist, a post office, a dry cleaner, a copy shop, two barber shops, and several banks, restaurants, and cafes.

The MIT Stratton Student Center, just a short (but not particularly direct) walk from Ascent Technology, has a small MIT Coop, as well as a barber shop, hairdresser, dry cleaner, optical shop, and copy center. It also has several quick-serve restaurants and a small grocery store.

The Garment District, at 200 Broadway, sells funky vintage and contemporary clothes and spectacular costumes at reasonable prices. It is very popular with students and young adults. Lines snake out the door just before Halloween.

Stores a bit farther away from Ascent Technology

The Cambridgeside Galleria, approximately a 20-minute walk from Ascent Technology, has more than 120 stores, specialty shops, and restaurants. If you don't feel like walking, a free CambridgeSide Galleria shuttle bus runs every 20 minutes. It stops outside the Kendall/MIT T stop next to the Marriott Hotel and at the corner of Binney Street and Sixth Street.

Take the MBTA (also known as the “T”) Red Line from the Kendall/MIT station to the Central Square station, one subway stop outbound (in the direction of the Alewife T station), and you will find many shops ranging from music stores, wine stores, inexpensive clothing stores, and pawn shops. Shaws supermarket, which is located in the same building as the Le Meridien Hotel, formerly the Hotel@MIT, just outside of Central Square, has just about every type of food imaginable, as well as a pharmacy.

To reach the wide variety of shops in Harvard Square, take the Red Line from the MIT/Kendall MBTA station to the Harvard Square station, two subway stops outbound from Ascent Technology.

Other places to shop include Newbury Street, The Prudential Center, Copley Place, Quincy Market, and Downtown Crossing. These areas are a subway ride away, travelling inbound to Boston from Ascent Technology.