Chico bank to shift branch use for walk-ins

Chico customers of Tri Counties Bank who use the Salem Street branch will find themselves shifting to another branch after April for walk-in services.

The Chico-based bank announced Tuesday that the 525 Salem St. at West Fifth Street branch will be converted into office space for the bank. By April, customers who use the Salem Street branch will be directed to the branch at 780 Mangrove Ave. in the Safeway-anchored Park Plaza Shopping Center. Customers can shift their business to any Tri Counties branch as soon as now, according to Tri Counties President and CEO Rick Smith of Chico.

The Mangrove Avenue branch has recently been renovated to accommodate the additional use, according to the bank.

The Salem Street branch will close at 5 p.m. April 22, and customer accounts consolidated into the Park Plaza branch. The walk-up ATM at the Salem Street branch will remain available to customers.

Of the Mangrove branch, Smith said, “The location now provides full capabilities for businesses and individuals to meet all lending, depository services, and wealth management needs. The new branch design also provides a physical layout that better serves customers of both the Park Plaza and Salem Street branches.”

Tri Counties plans to locate up to a total of 100 employees to the Salem Street location.

Smith noted the location was formerly the one office and headquarters of North State National Bank and is really too large for a branch.

“The space could be better used by putting more people there,” he told this newspaper Tuesday. Already the bank occupies buildings at the Chico Airport Industrial Park and two at Philadelphia Square office center.

“We keep growing and have a need to use the space downtown. We could have sold the building, but that wouldn’t be the best for Chico. This move puts more people downtown,” Smith said.

He noted with online banking technology, there is less need for brick and mortar locations.

“They don’t use (branches) as often as they used to,” Smith said of customers, adding that the branch is conducive to the many meetings that bank personnel host.

Of the bank’s 1,200 employees in California, about 500 are in Chico.

The bank also has Chico branches on Notre Dame Boulevard, Pillsbury Road and inside the Raley’s grocery on East Avenue.

Smith pointed out that adding employees to the downtown branch will help stimulate the economy in downtown as well, as they seek services, food or shop.

Established in 1975, Tri Counties Bank has 76 branches in California.