Retail Watchers

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 6th, 2024, 11:14 pm Store banks have largely disappeared from most regions I visit. What was once a feature in most stores, is now a feature in what feels like about 2 in 100 stores. The one bank I see that still has quite a few supermarket branches scattered around is US Bank but they have been actively closing those in my region.

You are right about Kroger trying to keep these branches. Smiths partnered with Zions for years on in-store branches and they had a deal every Smiths got a Zions (or affiliate) branch back when Smiths was an independent company. This enabled Zions to expand into Nevada under the banner Nevada State Bank. Over the years Zions made additional acquisitions in Nevada and ended up with a good number of freestanding branches, enough so that they were ready to divest all but a few of the Smiths locations. But rather than close outright, they sold the Smiths locations to US Bank. US Bank has since closed most of those units but still has some open. US Bank is keeping an ATM presence in all of the Smiths they leave. This is different from when I've seen US Bank exit Save Mart, Raleys, or Safeway units- they do not keep an ATM presence in those usually.

So are you saying there is an opportunity for credit unions to take over the spaces that banks previously occupied in supermarkets? This is an interesting idea and I have seen few in-store credit unions. I have seen some in-store credit unions in Wal Mart, there was at least one of these in Reno in the past, but that credit union closed that branch during COVID.

Another one I see is for instance there is there is a Raleys had had a US Bank. US Bank closed. Bank of America was the usual bank partner for Raleys in this market but over the years closed most/all of its branches, but kept an ATM presence in some Raleys. When US Bank closed, that store received a Bank of America ATM.

So my question here is, does the presence of a US Bank or Bank of America ATM, perhaps prohibit a credit union (or some other competing bank) from opening in-store?

storewanderer wrote: ↑February 6th, 2024, 11:14 pm Store banks have largely disappeared from most regions I visit. What was once a feature in most stores, is now a feature in what feels like about 2 in 100 stores. The one bank I see that still has quite a few supermarket branches scattered around is US Bank but they have been actively closing those in my region.

You are right about Kroger trying to keep these branches. Smiths partnered with Zions for years on in-store branches and they had a deal every Smiths got a Zions (or affiliate) branch back when Smiths was an independent company. This enabled Zions to expand into Nevada under the banner Nevada State Bank. Over the years Zions made additional acquisitions in Nevada and ended up with a good number of freestanding branches, enough so that they were ready to divest all but a few of the Smiths locations. But rather than close outright, they sold the Smiths locations to US Bank. US Bank has since closed most of those units but still has some open. US Bank is keeping an ATM presence in all of the Smiths they leave. This is different from when I've seen US Bank exit Save Mart, Raleys, or Safeway units- they do not keep an ATM presence in those usually.

So are you saying there is an opportunity for credit unions to take over the spaces that banks previously occupied in supermarkets? This is an interesting idea and I have seen few in-store credit unions. I have seen some in-store credit unions in Wal Mart, there was at least one of these in Reno in the past, but that credit union closed that branch during COVID.

Another one I see is for instance there is there is a Raleys had had a US Bank. US Bank closed. Bank of America was the usual bank partner for Raleys in this market but over the years closed most/all of its branches, but kept an ATM presence in some Raleys. When US Bank closed, that store received a Bank of America ATM.

So my question here is, does the presence of a US Bank or Bank of America ATM, perhaps prohibit a credit union (or some other competing bank) from opening in-store?

ClownLoach wrote: ↑February 7th, 2024, 1:15 pm

I wouldn't describe the Kroger situation as universally accepting. They booted the US Bank out of my local Ralphs for order pickup storage. US Bank wanted to stay. This closure was before the Union Bank merger.