Banks increase presence in grocery stores

BOULDER — Since King Soopers began allowing FirstBank branches in some of its grocery stores in the late 1980s, the trend of offering customers the opportunity to shop and bank at one location continues to grow.

Safeway began allowing Wells Fargo Bank branches into its Colorado stores in the late 1990s. Keeping up with the wave of new technology, Safeway is offering electronic banking at some of its locations. Safeway has been putting the Safeway Select Bank, which utilizes online banking, in its grocery stores throughout Colorado since October.

Safeway Select Bank is a venture of Amicus Federal Savings Bank, a division of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which has its headquarters in Toronto, Canada, said Anne Marie Laurenza, public relations manager for Amicus. Amicus’ headquarters is in Cicero, Ill. and the headquarters for its western division is in Fairfield, Calif.

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So far, Amicus has put a Safeway Select Bank in 19 Safeway stores in Colorado, including three in Westminster, one in Superior and one in Erie, said Jeff Stroh, Safeway spokesman. Amicus also has 10 Safeway Select banks in California, he said. “Safeway benefits by being able to provide a very convenient banking opportunity,” he said. “People can bank from home or from the store. The banks are another part of one-stop shopping convenience.”

Stroh referred to the Safeway Select Bank as a “hybrid bank” because most of the banking is done online, he said.

The Safeway Select Bank consists of kiosks that have a computer for online banking and one or more customer associates there to answer questions or to act as financial advisers, Laurenza said. The kiosks also are equipped with a telephone that connects people with a customer-service representative at a call center in Florida, she said.

Customers can use the Internet to open checking or savings accounts, and they can deposit cash or checks and make withdrawals through a Safeway Select automated teller machine (ATM) at no charge, she said.

Safeway Select Bank offers free unlimited checking, phone, Internet access and ATM banking, and competitive rates on savings accounts and loan products, Laurenza said. The banks also use a promotion offering free groceries for opening a new checking or savings account, or taking out a mortgage, she said.

Safeway already has Wells Fargo banks in 18 of its 105 Colorado stores, including one in Broomfield and one at 1050 Ken Pratt Blvd. in Longmont, and these will remain in place, Stroh said.

Ismael Perez Jr., manager of the Wells Fargo in the Broomfield Safeway at 120th Avenue and Main Street, said the branch has everything except safe-deposit boxes. He said people who prefer more privacy when banking should consider a traditional bank.

One difference between Wells Fargo’s grocery-store banks and its regular branches is that at grocery-store banks duties are less segregated, Perez said. “I’m a manager, sometimes I go to the teller line,” he said. “We wear all hats.”

Staff at the Wells Fargo grocery-store banks include a lead teller, tellers and a personal banker, who is an expert in all aspects of banking, Perez said.

FirstBank has been putting branches in local King Soopers since the late 1980s, said Tim Pinnick, president of FirstBank’s Boulder branches. Now, three of FirstBank’s nine Boulder County branches are located in grocery stores, he said.

FirstBank’s branches are at the Boulder King Soopers stores at Table Mesa Drive and Broadway; 30th Street and Arapahoe Road; and in the Louisville/Lafayette area at 95t h Street and Boulder Road, Pinnick said. The first two branches were started in 1989 and the third was started in 1994, he said. “Grocery-store banks do very well,” he said. “Between the three locations, we have several thousand accounts and more than $45 million in deposits.”

The banks at King Soopers are full service with everything traditional banks have except safe deposit boxes, Pinnick said. People can open checking or savings accounts or apply for a loan at these banks, he said.

Having branches in grocery stores meets the needs of another demographic, Pinnick said. “Some people would probably never feel comfortable banking in a grocery store,” he said. “Others find it more convenient.”

Dave Savage, King Soopers’ vice president of retail, believes having in-store banks increases the number of customers because the banks broaden customer appeal, he said. King Soopers will continue to add banks to more stores in the future, he said.Contact Amy Stogner at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail astogner@bcbr.com