Webster 5’s newest branch bucks tradition, follows trend
Webster Five Cent Savings Bank’s ninth branch, set to open in Shrewsbury at the end of this month, is a feather in Richard Lawton’s cap.
Situated on what’s becoming a prime retail/commercial area, the intersection of Routes 140 and 9 on the eastbound side, the newest branch, with 3,500 square feet, is located near an influx of new housing in Shrewsbury and Grafton - and very few other banks. Shrewsbury may be "statistically overbanked," as Lawton puts it, but not in this part of town.The new branch is part of a larger trend. A January report in Banker & Tradesman noted that building new branches has become a competitive imperative in Massachusetts, where banks have been adding new branches more rapidly than in any other state in the nation. But while the number of branches is increasing, each branch serves fewer customers than the national average. The FDIC reports that bank branches have expanded by 8.1 percent in Massachusetts over the last five years, compared to 7.7 percent for the U.S. and 4.6 percent for the New England region.
The new Webster Five branch has most of the accoutrements of a typical bank, with one external ATM, a drive-up teller, and an interior ATM. But that’s where it stops looking like a bank and more like a hospitality center.
A wall bank of five plasma TVs will display financial news during weekday business hours and will run vintage black and white movies and TV shows on the weekends. Instead of the low ceilings and fluorescent lights typical of branches in strip malls, the branch has high windows and a chandelier in the lobby. Sunlight streams through the lobby on a late winter afternoon, for a homey atmosphere that’s more Andrew Wyeth than bank-at-the-mall. Then, there are the rocking chairs for adults and the 300-pound piggy bank and a play center, complete with fun-house mirrors, for kids.
Branch Manager Ashlee Brazeau will supervise a staff of five, including three tellers. There’s room for expansion if the bank’s business takes off.
Lawton has high hopes. With residential development heating up along Route 9 in Shrewsbury, as well as a new over-55 housing complex in Grafton - and a mall complex just across Grafton St., which includes a Staples store, a Bed, Bath & Beyond, a Pier 1, a Bob’s clothing store and a Super Stop & Shop, the bank can take advantage of a local destination area for area residents.
We may be on an up part of the cycle. When Fleet bought BankBoston in 1999, the merged entity had to divest almost 300 branches in New England to satisfy regulatory antitrust requirements. Sovereign Bank bought 281 branches. Other banks planning or opening new branches in Central Mass. in the past year include Middlesex Savings Bank, Fidelity Bank, Commonwealth National Bank, and Commerce Bank & Trust Co. The expansion of credit unions, with Digital Federal Credit Union opening two branches in Worcester, Central One Federal Credit Union opening a branch in Northboro, and Metropolitan Credit Union proposing a branch for Framingham, for some recent examples, has also increased the competitive atmosphere.
Lawton praises the Town of Shrewsbury for its warm welcome of the new branch. The permitting process, he says, went off without a hitch, and earlier this month he was drafting up his A-list of invitees to the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "We felt it was a tremendous opportunity and I think it’s going to work out well for the bank and for the community," he says.
Christina P. O’Neill can be reached at coneill@wbjournal.com
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