In a world of mobile banking, brick-and-mortar branches are forced to create new ways to drive traffic.
Pinnacle Financial Partners just rolled out a concept aimed at doing exactly that. Its renovated branch at 1264 S. Germantown Road is one part bank, one part Starbucks.
The Pinnacle Financial Partners branch at 1264 S. Germantown Road now has a Starbucks
The Pinnacle Financial Partners branch at 1264 S. Germantown Road now has a Starbucks
“It is really just trying to make sense out of the dislocation in branch banking,” said Carter Campbell, founder of Memphis-based National Property Concepts. “Everybody knows there is an issue. The banks all know they’ve got to do something. They just don’t know what.”
Campbell is trying to help banks figure out the “what.”
Pairing the full-service Starbucks with a Pinnacle branch is Campbell’s latest project. He also brought the dual-purposed Starbucks idea to Trustmark National Bank, which is transforming its branch at 6165 Poplar Ave.
With a background in the banking industry, Campbell said this reimagining of space is the reverse of the revolutionary concept in the 1980s, when banks opened in grocery stores. Now, retailers open in banks.
“Essentially, what we have done here is create almost an in-store footprint for the bank inside of the branch,” Campbell said. “Then, [that has] freed up the space for a retailer like Starbucks to come in. So, the bank gets efficiency from the occupancy standpoint and now they don’t have to pay the full freight on the taxes and utilities, and they get rental income.”
Banks can leverage the extra foot traffic to generate new business, and retailers get access to premium real estate.
When asked if he thought bank branches would ever completely disappear, Campbell said mobile and online transactions would certainly continue, but so would the need for the face-to-face contact and brand recognition that physical locations offer.
Besides Starbucks, Campbell said he has had conversations with companies such as Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread and various wireless carriers about possible retail/bank combos.
Just think: a cup of soup, half of a sandwich and a new checking account.
“People are doing all their shopping online, and now they are doing all their banking online,” Campbell said. “You’ve got to deliver a superior experience to draw people in.”