Apr 29, 2016 4 min read

Another slice of Americana is disappearing – the traditional bank branch.

The place where so many of us spent so much time, lined up behind so many other customers, is in peril. As if mergers hadn’t already done a number on its numbers, the standard branch isn’t drawing as much people traffic these days. Online, mobile and ATM banking are more convenient options than the time-honored, but time-consuming visit with the friendly teller who will do everything.

Banks, more than most industries, should recognize fiscal efficiency. Many decide running a particular brick-and-mortar branch, staffed with a half-dozen or so employees, is not worthwhile and either close or consolidate it.

That happened at two Washington County locations Tuesday. Northwest Savings Bank shut down the West Chestnut Street branch in North Franklin Township, transferring operations and some of its employees to the Murtland Avenue offices in South Strabane Township. Northwest also closed a drive-through ATM in Marianna.

The company said in a news release increased use of alternative banking services diminished the need for both locations. It also said it is consolidating 24 branches and converting two to drive-through only.

Branch closures have been common in recent years. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported there were 6,978 nationwide in 2009, but only 5,693 by mid-2014 – an 18.4 percent nosedive.

Then, apparently, that slide accelerated during the rest of 2014. SNL Financial, a data tracking firm from Charlottesville, Va., said 1,407 branches shut down in the United States that year.

Bank of America, the nation’s second largest bank, eliminated more than 500 branches between mid-2013 and mid-2015, according to an article last summer at CNNMoney, a business website.

Branches, curiously, were still the second most popular form of banking, according to a July 2015 survey commissioned by American Bankers Association. Of 1,000 adults questioned, 17 percent said they preferred a branch.

That figure, however, was down from 21 percent a year earlier.

Internet banking topped that survey at 32 percent, ATM was third (13 percent) and mobile was fourth (12 percent).

Despite the decline in branch usage, many people don’t want to lose their neighborhood bank. Paul Crowe is among them. He lives in Marianna and is angry about Northwest’s closure of the drive-through/ATM, the only banking location in the immediate vicinity.

“We’d like to have another bank or a credit union,” he said. “There are a lot of people here who don’t drive (and can’t get to a bank elsewhere). They need something. We live in the country and (not having a bank nearby) may deter people from moving here. If (a bank doesn’t) want this, who would want to come here?”

There is an often-expressed concern banks tend to close branches in rural, low-income or minority areas. Less affluent and less populated, of course, often means less customer traffic.

Ask residents of Donora, which lost its last-remaining bank three years ago, or ask the good people of Marianna.

Branches have supporters besides Crowe. They were, after all, the No. 2 choice of customers in that survey only nine months ago. And though PNC Bank trimmed branches, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported at the annual shareholders meeting recently, a shareholder and the CEO said they prefer branch banking.

The shareholder, according to that newspaper, said “a lot of seniors like me” prefer personal banking and William Demchak, the CEO, concurred, saying, “We will always have people in branches who will be able to serve you.”

That is a hopeful signal for branch advocates in Washington and Greene counties. So is the fact, despite Northwest’s recent closure of two branches here, it has been opening new ones in high-traffic areas.

Last year, it launched one at the bottom of Murtland Avenue in South Strabane Township.This spring, the Warren-based bank plans to open a branch at Peters Township Marketplace at 3380 Washington Road.

Northwest also announced this week it agreed to purchase 18 First Niagara Bank branches in or near Buffalo, N.Y.

But even though branches are diminishing overall, they may not go the way of the mom-and-pop grocery. Nessa Feddis of the ABA, which authorized that survey last summer, believes they will endure.

“While everyone has their own preferred method, banks provide a diverse menu of options to meet the needs of all customers,” the ABA’s senior vice president said in an article accompanying the survey results.

“Online and mobile banking are features that complement, but do not replace, branches,” she added. “The design of branches may change, but as the survey numbers suggest, they’re here to stay.”

Rick Shrum is a business writer for the Observer-Reporter. His email is rshrum@observer-reporter.com.