The Wells Fargo branch at 7101 W. Broad St. in Henrico. (Michael Schwartz)
Continuing a trend it began in 2017, a big national bank is further shrinking its physical presence in the Richmond market.
Wells Fargo is planning to close its branch at 7101 W. Broad St. in Henrico, near the intersection with Glenside Drive.
Spokeswoman Kristy Marshall said the location is expected to close March 6 and is being consolidated into a nearby branch at 8215 W. Broad St.
Marshall said the closure is part of the bank’s continued plan in the last two years of trimming its local branch count, a process that will have eliminated at least five of its Richmond-area outposts during that time once this latest closure occurs.
“This is part of our consolidation process and mostly due to the bank mergers over the years creating multiple locations very close by one another,” Marshall said. “We are looking very closely at customer traffic trends over the last few years and making decisions on those with decreased traffic.”
The branch was previously a location for Wachovia, which Wells Fargo absorbed in 2008.
Other local Wells locations given the axe since 2017 include 11124 Midlothian Turnpike, its downtown branch on the ground floor of the Wytestone Plaza building at 801 E. Main St., and 2420 Staples Mill Road, next to the Libbie Mill development.
The bank still had 59 locations in the Richmond region as of June 30, holding a total of $6.8 billion in deposits.
The branch due to close at 7101 W. Broad St. held $83 million in deposits as of June 30, according to the FDIC.
Marshall said Wells leases the Broad Street property. The 3,700-square-foot building is owned by North Gayton Co., according to county records.
The building sits on about three quarters of an acre and most recently was assessed at $1.04 million.
The Wells Fargo branch at 7101 W. Broad St. in Henrico. (Michael Schwartz)
Continuing a trend it began in 2017, a big national bank is further shrinking its physical presence in the Richmond market.
Wells Fargo is planning to close its branch at 7101 W. Broad St. in Henrico, near the intersection with Glenside Drive.
Spokeswoman Kristy Marshall said the location is expected to close March 6 and is being consolidated into a nearby branch at 8215 W. Broad St.
Marshall said the closure is part of the bank’s continued plan in the last two years of trimming its local branch count, a process that will have eliminated at least five of its Richmond-area outposts during that time once this latest closure occurs.
“This is part of our consolidation process and mostly due to the bank mergers over the years creating multiple locations very close by one another,” Marshall said. “We are looking very closely at customer traffic trends over the last few years and making decisions on those with decreased traffic.”
The branch was previously a location for Wachovia, which Wells Fargo absorbed in 2008.
Other local Wells locations given the axe since 2017 include 11124 Midlothian Turnpike, its downtown branch on the ground floor of the Wytestone Plaza building at 801 E. Main St., and 2420 Staples Mill Road, next to the Libbie Mill development.
The bank still had 59 locations in the Richmond region as of June 30, holding a total of $6.8 billion in deposits.
The branch due to close at 7101 W. Broad St. held $83 million in deposits as of June 30, according to the FDIC.
Marshall said Wells leases the Broad Street property. The 3,700-square-foot building is owned by North Gayton Co., according to county records.
The building sits on about three quarters of an acre and most recently was assessed at $1.04 million.
Not much of a surprise. I believe a lot of banks are coming to the realization that the need for abundant physical locations is no longer needed with the continued growth of online/mobile banking. Of course branches are still needed but with the cost of a physical location and staffing, it just makes more sense to be selective of where you have them.
Not only is Wells Fargo closing locations, but it has eliminated Saturday hours, at at least some of its locations. I just noticed the posted sign at the CrossRidge (Staples Mill) location.
The banks really need to be aware that not all customers (seniors and low-income) want or use internet/mobile banking especially when they are the victim of fraud/id theft when looking at branch closures. Bank of America closing of its Brookland Park branch left residents without anything but payday lenders and if Wells Fargo was to close it Chamberlayne and School branch there would be no bank branches in the City north of 64 for anyone.
Sounds like an opportunity for some one.
If the state cracked down on pay day lenders do you think there would be more bank branches?
Probably not the traditional national lenders but as is the case Richmond, its business and civic leaders are about 12 steps behind the nation and even a few steps behind Roanoke. In Roanoke, they did a project like Six Points in a similar neighborhood to Highland Park but unlike here (our center is for academic support only (open 2 hours on Thursday and by appt on Fridays), Roanoke leaders looked around, saw the need services and did something BIG with their building. In a very similar neighborhood. Through leadership and with the help of businesses, state and federal resources, and… Read more »
True but you can’t force a bank to branch a certain area. There is an opportunity for another bank to come in and service the area but the problem is the customers you listed. Banks survive off of fees and interest income. Seniors and low-income folks in the area are not bringing in huge deposits to lend off of and you can’t just fee these people to death either, so how does a bank operate in that area? Maybe there needs to be something like a low-income credit union funded off of a tax on the larger banks in the… Read more »