If you build it, banks will come
Development and infrastructure improvement along Routes 20 and 146 south of Worcester has brought a noticeable increase in bank branch expansion to the area, particularly Charlton and Sutton.
According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. statistics, both communities added two bank branches between 2001 and 2006. The numbers may sound modest, but in each town's case, the addition of two branches represents a significant bump.
In 2001, Charlton had only two bank branches total before Ware-based Country Bank for Savings doubled that with the opening of two branches in the town.
The town of Sutton, meanwhile, had a branch of Worcester County Bank and Savings, before that institution became Fleet Bank, which then was acquired by Bank of America. By 2001, the branch was closed, leaving the town with no active bank branches. By 2006, there were two branches in town, Unibank for Savings, based in Whitinsville, and national powerhouse Bank of America, which had decided to get back into the Sutton game.
A matter of convenience
In both cases, the ability to locate on heavily traversed east/west and north/south commuter routes were prime motivators for expansion.
"We were originally located in Leicester and Brimfield, and what we noticed was a strong customer presence moving east down Route 20," said Paul Scully, president and CEO of Country Bank for Savings. "Charlton was a growing community, and we saw it as a nice opportunity."
Growth within the communities themselves was an important factor in the banks deciding to locate there, but another large slice of the pie lay in the branches' abilities to serve new and existing customers passing through the busy corridors on their way to and from work each day.
"We of course strive to serve the residents of Sutton first," said Ken Redding, president and CEO of Unibank for Savings. "But our location there is also a convenient place for people that have accounts at other branches to stop by on their way home from Worcester or wherever."
Ken Redding, president and CEO of Unibank for SavingsBig feet
In the case of Unibank, expansion northward into Sutton was also part of a larger effort to expand its footprint, Redding said.
"We view ourselves as the bank of the Blackstone Valley, so we needed to have branches further north," he said.
It didn't hurt Unibank's planning process when one of its senior vice presidents was also a former town treasurer in Sutton, and thus clued them in to the growth potential in the area, especially along Route 146, said Redding.
The bank looked for a spot along the Route 146 corridor for 10 years, Redding said, always coming back to the same spot at the intersection of 146 and Boston Road, on the southbound side of 146. The location proved fortuitous, Redding said.
Believing they were pushing Bank of America out of town, Redding said he was disappointed, but not surprised, when the country's largest bank "double-crossed" Unibank and built a brand new branch almost directly across the street.
"There's a reason we wanted to be on that (southbound) side," Redding said. "It's so people working in the city and on their way home in the valley can stop and take care of their banking chores."
Cash only
The banks' expansion has also proven a boon to local businesses, which can now enjoy the convenience of community banking and bank services, said Jenn Hager, planning coordinator and acting assistant town administrator for Sutton.
"Tony's Restaurant is the only real restaurant in town, and it only takes cash," Hager said. "With the banks there now, people can just hop over to the ATMs. It makes people slow down on the way through, and it's also really nice for residents to have local services right there in town."
Scully explained that Country Bank's second branch in Charlton is located at the Overlook Life Care Community, an age-restricted community for residents 62 years old and above. The branch is for the exclusive use of residents and employees of the development.
Rather than being limited by a narrowly defined clientele, however, Scully said he was "thrilled" with the branch's performance thus far.
For now, both Scully and Redding have no plans for further expansion, but won't rule it out if the climate is right and growth continues in the valley south of Worcester.
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