Wells Fargo & Co. announced a new banking store concept — the neighborhood bank format — that it created to deliver the kind of on-site banking experience that Wells Fargo customers have come to expect, but in a smaller format that allows the company to offer store locations with personalized service, in settings not suitable for its larger stores.
The new store format is approximately 1,000 square feet and offers a paperless, secure workflow as well as wireless technology that help the team provide faster service; it will also feature new large-screen ATMs. The first store using the new design will open in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on April 15. The design for a new Wells Fargo traditional store is typically between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet.
With this new store concept, Wells is trying to offer person-to-person sales and service along with new banking technology in settings that previously would have “discouraged us from building a store,” said Jonathan Velline, head of Wells Fargo ATM Banking and store strategy. “Stores are central to our strategy of providing excellent service and meeting our customers financial needs. This new neighborhood bank concept complements our traditional stores to help us bring the Wells Fargo store experience to more customers.”
Velline said in designing the new store format Wells Fargo paid special attention to creating areas within the smaller layout where team members and customers can conduct business and have important financial conversations, including in private. Advanced technology allowed for the elimination of paper-driven back-office processes, increasing space efficiency and creating new store location opportunities.
This new store design also offers technology found in traditional Wells Fargo stores, such as ATM software that anticipates a customers preferred transactions, image deposits, instant issue debit cards and eReceipts. It also will have wireless tablets and phones that team members will use to serve customers. A free wireless hotspot will be available for customers to use.
“We expect to evolve the concept as we receive feedback from the new NoMa store,” Velline said.