Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

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Alpha8472
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Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by Alpha8472 »

In the past few months, all of the bank branches in Safeway and other supermarkets near me have all closed.

It seems like banks don't want branches inside of retail stores anymore. Many have also removed their ATMs.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by storewanderer »

US Bank still has branches in 4 Smiths in my area, and 2 Save Marts. They closed a lot of store branches; one of the closed store branches, a Smiths in Gardnerville, actually does still have a US Bank ATM present in front of where the old bank branch was. The other stores they exited (2 Safeways, 1 Raleys, 1 Smiths, 1 Food Maxx) they exited 100% and there is no bank-affiliated ATM present (the stores may have put their own ATM in).

Also Wells Fargo had a branch inside a Raleys at South Lake Tahoe which they exited at some point in the past year.

I think that is it now for bank branches within grocery stores. Some credit unions set up inside some Wal Mart locations though.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by buckguy »

The heyday for these things was probably 30 years ago and they've had some ups and downs since then and have been more of a thing in certain regions and with certain chains than others. Giant was the chain that went all-in in DC, going back many years, originally with Chevy Chase Bank (now part of CapitalOne). Their contract with PNC ended a few years ago, but they must have been pickedup again for awhile because PNC is still there. Harris Teeter has bank branches it elsewhere but I haven't seen them here.

There are some articles on line that suggest single digit drops in the overall number of in-store branches in each of the past few years. Giant Eagle was one chain that lost a lot of branches (but not all) in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Brick and mortar branches have been declining in number overall, but DC been getting more of them up until COVID hit. Indeed it's been a local joke that when some long standing merchant closes, it's going to be a bank. Some smaller banks and credit unions (we have lots of credit unions) have pruned locations lately, but for the most past they've kept branches open and I noticed that some unfamiliar bank has leased space in a realtor's office for a bank of ATMs.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by Brian Lutz »

Looking around at some of the local Fred Meyers I see some (Redmond, Bothell, Silver Lake) that still have Chase branches, and others that formerly had Chase branches but which still have Chase ATMs inside. Snohomish has a People's Bank branch inside, but I rarely see it open when I shop there. Most Safeways that used to have bank branches inside (primarily USBank) now either have some small credit union branch or have reclaimed the space. I also know some QFC stores used to have Bank of America branches, but I believe these have largely fallen by the wayside as well.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: August 25th, 2021, 10:03 pm Looking around at some of the local Fred Meyers I see some (Redmond, Bothell, Silver Lake) that still have Chase branches, and others that formerly had Chase branches but which still have Chase ATMs inside. Snohomish has a People's Bank branch inside, but I rarely see it open when I shop there. Most Safeways that used to have bank branches inside (primarily USBank) now either have some small credit union branch or have reclaimed the space. I also know some QFC stores used to have Bank of America branches, but I believe these have largely fallen by the wayside as well.
Weren't those Chase branches in Fred Meyer full sized branches with access both from inside Fred Meyer and also access from the exterior?
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by Alpha8472 »

Some of those Chase Banks inside of Fred Meyer were as large as full sized bank branches. They were often separated from the store by glass walls and looked like they were their own self contained bank. Some of them had ATM machines on the outside of Fred Meyer. You did not have to enter Fred Meyer to use the ATM.

I believe there is an Uwajimaya supermarket that has a full sized Chase branch inside where you can enter the bank from outside and there is a glass door to the inside of the supermarket as well.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by babs »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 26th, 2021, 12:26 am Some of those Chase Banks inside of Fred Meyer were as large as full sized bank branches. They were often separated from the store by glass walls and looked like they were their own self contained bank. Some of them had ATM machines on the outside of Fred Meyer. You did not have to enter Fred Meyer to use the ATM.

I believe there is an Uwajimaya supermarket that has a full sized Chase branch inside where you can enter the bank from outside and there is a glass door to the inside of the supermarket as well.
Most of the chase branches inside Fred Meyer stores in Oregon are now Onpoint credit union branches. What's interested that in many cases Chase built freestanding bank branches nearby. Some of these branches are odd conversions. The one in Tualatin used to be an Applebees. The one in Tigard was an old Magnolia HiFi. Another.one used to be a 7-11.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by kr.abs.swy »

There is currently a conversion of a former Burger King into a Chase happening in Corvallis. They completely gutted the Burger King but did keep the shell.

Transaction mixes at bank branches are changing. Just think about yourself. 25 years ago you probably went to the bank twice a month to deposit a check. In-store branches were perfect for this. Deposit your check where you buy your groceries and you save the amount of time it would have taken you to stop at the bank. Fast forward 25 years and the only time you visit a bank branch is if you need to do something you can't do on their Web site or in their app. So branches are focusing more on opening new accounts, providing advice, selling other products, serving merchants and solving complex problems. In-store branches just aren't as useful in this scenario (I don't think people are wired to think of the tiny bank office that most in-store branches have as a place where you would want to discuss your retirement plan -- the Fred Meyer Chase branches were somewhat exceptions to this because they did function as a full branch, but the Wells Fargo/US Bank branches you would see in Safeway or Smith's were typically a teller, superteller and branch manager). You also don't need nearly as many branches as you did before. That is why you are seeing branches close and in-store branches get hit especially hard. U.S. Bank went through a round of branch closings in Portland fairly recently. But their network of branches was (and still is) so dense that it probably hasn't cost them that many customers.
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by jamcool »

Meanwhile in Surprise, AZ there is a bank that was converted into a Wendy’s
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Re: Bank Branches Inside Supermarkets

Post by Brian Lutz »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 26th, 2021, 12:26 am Some of those Chase Banks inside of Fred Meyer were as large as full sized bank branches. They were often separated from the store by glass walls and looked like they were their own self contained bank. Some of them had ATM machines on the outside of Fred Meyer. You did not have to enter Fred Meyer to use the ATM.

I believe there is an Uwajimaya supermarket that has a full sized Chase branch inside where you can enter the bank from outside and there is a glass door to the inside of the supermarket as well.
I'm not aware of any current or former Chase branches in Fred Meyers that had outside access, although they are generally close to one of the store's main doors. And yes, the Seattle International District Uwajimaya store does have a Chase branch inside of it as well. The store is, much like many ethnic markets, more of a mini-mall (the store contains a food court with a Kinokuniya bookstore, a cosmetics store, an optician and quite a few restaurants. I used to work across the street from there in a previous job and would eat there often.
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