Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

[rwsandiego]

Giant-Landover is closing down multiple PNC branches, including some that have opened in recent years. Makes me wonder if they will switch to another bank brand or other use.

It's likely the decision of the bank, I don't think the grocery chains desire them to leave. If it's anything like the Giant PA stores, they just wall the space over (or throw shelves in front with seasonal junk). I don't think any bank is eager to open branches (in general, but especially in grocery stores) these days. (Even one of my local Walmart's lost their Woodforest branch sometime in the last few months).

In a previous life I worked in retail banking admin (for 18.5 years ) and can tell you that you are right about it most likely being the decision of the bank. Banks and credit unions can't just close branches at will. The Federal Deposit Insurance Act requires the financial institution to submit advance notice of any proposed branch closing to the institution’s primary federal regulator. PNC Bank, N.A. is a nationally chartered bank, so they would be required to file an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A state-chartered bank would likely file the application with the Federal Reserve Bank. The purpose of the regulatory filing is to ensure the institution is remaining compliant with the Community Reinvestment Act.

As @storewanderer mentioned, PNC is closing branches, as are many other banks. Through their acquisitions of National City, Riggs, and BBVA they have a ton of branches that they did not open themselves. As consumers use branches less frequently these branches make less and less sense to keep around. In-stores are not the money-makers one might think they would be. They don't sell very many mortgages, small business relationships, or investment services, which are profitable for the bank. Consumer checking and savings accounts are pretty much loss leaders.

[mjhale]

Giant-Landover is closing down multiple PNC branches, including some that have opened in recent years. Makes me wonder if they will switch to another bank brand or other use.

Safeway has been converting former in-store SunTrust locations into expanded Starbucks cafes. The former Starbucks areas are now mostly filled with seasonal and big displays of soft drink cases. I'm curious to see what Giant does with the former bank spaces. The few stores that have them near me the space is too small to do anything significant with. I think I'd just wall them in for store offices or storage.

[BillyGr]

Safeway has been converting former in-store SunTrust locations into expanded Starbucks cafes. The former Starbucks areas are now mostly filled with seasonal and big displays of soft drink cases. I'm curious to see what Giant does with the former bank spaces. The few stores that have them near me the space is too small to do anything significant with. I think I'd just wall them in for store offices or storage.

One store here used it for a time as a spot to place items that were being marked down (be it seasonal once the event passed, things that were getting close to use by dates or just something they were not going to carry any longer).
That worked pretty well, since many times the stores have to stick this type of stuff in a hallway or similar where it sits as many don't even go near it.

[buckguy]

Giant had a long relationship with Chevy Chase Bank (later merged into CapitalOne) before PNC, which included ATMs in virtually their stores. Chevy Chase opted out of the relationship before they were bought by CapitalOne. I don't think Giant ever had many in-store bank branches--I can't think of one they've had in DC, lower Montgomery County or Arlington.

The bank branches in supers seemed to become a big thing in the 80s---Kroger, in particular, was big into this and seemed to have them in all new or remodeled stores in many places. Acme, which partnered with Mellon Bank, also went big into this, as did Vons with Wells Fargo. I think this grew out of super markets being a place where people used to cash paychecks and buy money orders. Jewel didn't have in-store banks because of the very restrictive branch banking laws in Illinois, but they offered basic banking services on behalf of a roster of banks for awhile in the 80s. I think Kroger may have gone as far as buying into a bank to the extent that would have been permitted by regulators. Chevy Chase had been controlled by a real estate trust related to the Saul family---they've been involved in DC area development since the late 19th century.

I was settling an estate in LA in the 2000s and the accounts were at a Wells Fargo in a Vons. i was impressed at how few customers they had---I spent a lot of time waiting around, hanging out at the adjacent Starbucks kiosk, because only one person in the branch who knew anything about trusts and he had irregular hours. I wasn't surprised when the in-store branches began to disappear.

[Alpha8472]

Many Safeway stores in Northern California had Wells Fargo branches up until the pandemic. Then they all seemed to have closed. Safeway added some seasonal merchandise in the empty space, but it looked awful.

Back in 2009, bank branches were bustling. People stood in lines and Wells Fargo was open late. Wells Fargo was even open on Sundays. Back then people did not have access to online check deposit. People actually deposited and cashed checks in person. You had to fill out paper slips at banks. Shocking! ATMs only gave out $20 bills and depositing checks at ATMs required envelopes and waiting periods before the money was added to your account. Most ATMs did not even take cash deposits. You had to use a bank teller.

Lucky stores in Northern California used to have Bank of America branches in the 90s. The original Lucky Rewards Card had Bank of America advertising on the back. Albertsons took over around 1999. Then gradually the branches closed down. Some Save Mart run Lucky stores still have Bank of America ATMs. Other Save Mart run Lucky stores had Wells Fargo branches until the pandemic. Now you still see some Wells Fargo ATMs.

Lunardi's, which is a local chain in the San Francisco Bay Area had Fremont Bank at their Walnut Creek store up until the pandemic. It was a tiny counter and ATM. There were probably only 1 or 2 people in the branch.

[BillyGr]

Back in 2009, bank branches were bustling. People stood in lines and Wells Fargo was open late. Wells Fargo was even open on Sundays. Back then people did not have access to online check deposit. People actually deposited and cashed checks in person. You had to fill out paper slips at banks. Shocking! ATMs only gave out $20 bills and depositing checks at ATMs required envelopes and waiting periods before the money was added to your account. Most ATMs did not even take cash deposits. You had to use a bank teller.

Deposits still require an envelope in some ATM's (like our local bank) but are usually processed the next (business) day at the latest.

One other thing that the store branches used to be convenient for (due to the longer hours) was cashing traveler's checks (when those were a more common thing) on trips, as most (if not all) banks would cash those no matter what brand and without you needing an account, since they were guaranteed to get the money back.
Particularly helpful if you had accounts with a smaller bank, since that avoided any fees that even early cards had for getting money from other brands of bank, since you were unlikely to find your own while travelling

[mbz321]

Acme, which partnered with Mellon Bank, also went big into this

And even to this day, Acme still seems to hold on to their bank branches (Mellon sold off its retail banking division in 2001 to Citizens and were quickly rebranded as such) while their main area competitors (Giant, ShopRite) have been losing them.

[ClownLoach]

US Bank has not published a list of branches closing in their acquisition of Union Bank, however they are not keeping their original promise of "no frontline employee job losses" and many branches will close. The Union Bank branch I use was assured they would stay open, only to learn of their job loss from customers who received paper letters announcing the closure on Memorial Day weekend ("oops, we accidentally mailed the letters before letting you, our valued employees, know you were being terminated"). It is my understanding most of the in grocery store branches for both banks will be closing. At this point it is easy to find Union Bank branches being kept as they've already had US Bank signs and ATMs installed with Union Bank banners covering them. Locations without these banners have small signs on the door stating they're closing Memorial Day weekend.

[rwsandiego]

US Bank has not published a list of branches closing in their acquisition of Union Bank, however they are not keeping their original promise of "no frontline employee job losses" and many branches will close. The Union Bank branch I use was assured they would stay open, only to learn of their job loss from customers who received paper letters announcing the closure on Memorial Day weekend ("oops, we accidentally mailed the letters before letting you, our valued employees, know you were being terminated"). It is my understanding most of the in grocery store branches for both banks will be closing. At this point it is easy to find Union Bank branches being kept as they've already had US Bank signs and ATMs installed with Union Bank banners covering them. Locations without these banners have small signs on the door stating they're closing Memorial Day weekend.

A couple of things:

• According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC's) list of corporate applications, 113 US Bank branches will close, and 47 Union Bank branches will close. You can search for U.S. Bank and MUFG Union Bank branch closures here The applications were filed on 2/24, but I had to enter 1/1/2023 as a start date and 3/31/2023 as an end date for the search parameters

• None of the Union Bank branches on the closure list surprised me. I was surprised that many weren't closed during UB's closure program back in 2019 - 2021. My guess is they stopped when the US Bank acquisition was being negotiated.

• Banks typically do not publish lists of branch closures. They notify the affected customers (the customers whose accounts are domiciled there) or, when a small number of branches are closing, send a list of all the closing branches, as HSBC did when they sold their retail business to Citizen's and Cathay

• A branch closing does not equate to job losses. Given Union Bank's sparse branch staffing levels, there is a very high probability (like, 100%) that Union Bank employees whose branches close will be retained. As in most acquisition-related branch consolidations, the employees of the closing branches will be absorbed by the surviving branch or another branch that is not closing. There is also typically voluntary attrition in the wake of an acquisition.

• US Bank's application to acquire Union Bank included the provision that no front-line employees would involuntarily lose their jobs, so if they renege on that they risk being assessed a fairy substantial fine as well as a very public announcement from the OCC , who does not take kindly instances of lying.

• UB employees learned whether they were being retained or laid off in early March, according to my former colleagues who still work there. (I was laid off from my governance/oversight role in mid-2021, about six weeks before the acquisition was announced).

[storewanderer]

US Bank has been actively closing supermarket branches for years. They had too many of them. Yet they do still have some. I saw at least two in Las Vegas last week, as I recall one was in a Vons and one was in a Smiths, with no notices of closure.

US Bank seems to be moving more quickly on branch closures with this Union Bank merger.