Anne Kadet filed an enlightening (and depressing!) article this past weekend at The Wall Street Journal that explores a question we all ask: Why are there so many *&^%%#&*(#()!!@ bank branches in NYC? (You may find the article here, though you may need a subscription to access it.)
The TD branch at the former Mars Bar space on Second Avenue and East First Street is the jumping off point for the piece, which tells us that, in the past 10 years, "the banking gods" dropped 461 new branches on the city, bringing the total to 1,763. Per the article: New York City has one bank branch for every 4,700 residents, more than twice the national average.
To the article:
The most obvious reason for all the banks in the Big Apple? New York is where the money is. Gobs and gobs of money. According the latest FDIC report, bank branches in the five boroughs hold a collective $850 billion in cash — that's 21% of the nation's deposits.
Of course, a lot of that cash is corporate savings stashed in commercial banks. But even when it comes to consumer cash, New York is hot. The typical retail bank branch holds just $35 million in deposits, which is roughly the break-even point. TD's typical NYC branch, meanwhile, holds $125 million. That pretty much explains why it can outspend the city's mom-and-pop shops when it comes to paying rent.
TD, in particular, is aggressively expanding and opening new branches in the city.
Regional President Chris Giamo, who is in charge of TD's New York operations, tells the Journal about a customer survey that the bank conducted.
[C]ompared to the rest of the nation, New Yorkers are obsessed with branch convenience. While folks in other towns value frivolities like friendly service, New Yorkers more often rank convenient ATMs and branches a top priority. They want locations near their homes, their offices and the offices of their spouses, says Mr. Giamo. They want to see their bank everywhere they go.
From the sound of it, you soon will see a bank branch everywhere.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The former Mars Bar is becoming a fucking bank branch
So where's that fucking bank branch that's taking the former Mars Bar space?
The fucking TD Bank signage arrives at the former home of the Mars Bar
The fucking TD Bank branch is now open on Second Avenue
Come to Livingston, NJ, about 20 minutes west of NYC. We have you beat. Our town of 27,000 has a bank from every company, I would guess more than a dozen. We also used to have about five frozen yogurt shops, but are back down to one. Keep hope alive NYC!
ReplyDeletePeople want ATM's near them because of punitive bank fees for using an ATM from a bank other than that of where their account is held. Even wealthy people must get annoyed at this petty nickle and diming.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how I got by all those years without a bank on every corner.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably the dumb one but this trend doesn't make much sense to me. As a banking customer I have seen my visits to the storefront bank steadily *decrease* over the past few years thanks to modern advances like direct deposit, mobile deposit, and online transfers. I assumed everyone else was trending the same way but apparently I am way out of step. Apparently people love hanging out at their banks and can't get enough of the experience. Fuckfaces, all of you.
ReplyDeleteWith so many branches the panhandlers that open the door for you are stretched too thin, now I have to open my own damn door!
ReplyDeleteWhy is it necessary to call it the F......g TD Bank Branch? Are you people just F......g vulgar a......les?
ReplyDeleteGrow up. The one thing in life you can always count on is change.
Get over it. Find another bar to call your home.
Thank you.
A F......g resident of the neighborhood.
Anon 10:57 IMO you ought to zip it gramps. This is EVG's site, he/she works hard to provide all this fresh, relevant content as well as a medium for people to air out their opinions, and it's all free of charge, without so much as a shred of advertising. Think for a moment on that, as well as your own ingratitude. Rail all you want over the subject matter being presented, but if you have a complaint with the way the site-owner presents it, just zip it. Besides by expressing annoyance at this recent proliferation of bank branches EVG is merely speaking for all people with a soul. Frankly anon your knee-jerk defense of corporate banks is truly disturbing. You should be more annoyed at this trend.
ReplyDeleteDamn Canadians!
ReplyDelete"Grow up."
ReplyDeleteCheck.
"Get over it."
Check.
Hey @Liberation, 2 more to add to the list.
In the 90's the place to be in July was a bank branch as they had the best Air Conditioning and they turned it up as if they were hanging meat in the back.
ReplyDeleteThen you'd go to the Post Office, and because of Austerity, the mercury was fixed at 78 degrees and even the employees were sweltering.
Flash forward to 2014. Bank Employees now are on the Austerity program, and the cash machines are hotter than a Subway Elevator in August.
Over at the P.O., the employees (all 3 left) bask in 50 degree temps because their enterprise is going out of business and they give a f.
If you don't iike banks, then move to Livingston, NJ. Oh, wait.
ReplyDeleteIt's the instant gratification culture. People want cash in an instant to spend more on instant gratifying things such as froyo, alcohol, and brunch. They don't want to wait onine at a bank, because they'll be spending those time waiting at Shake Shack, cronuts, latest Apple iZombie, and brunch.
As a native New Yorker I think people just have to accept that this island has changed forever and is NEVER going back to how it used to be.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of an island down south; Palm Beach!
What's an ATM? What's cash?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't TD just give out the dog biscuits, say, from a little booth in the corner of Mars Bar? It's not like there's any other reason to go into their branches. Well, the pens, too; some people like those, I guess.
ReplyDeletePeople actually believe that guy when he says we "want/need" ATMs? Banks are taking real estate because its cheap for them, and its like a little advertisement for them when you walk by. Stores use real estate in Manhattan as advertising. Thats why every "brand" wants a storefront on bway/park/madison or whatever. Banks are no different. Plus they All a part of right wing engineering
ReplyDeleteyou nailed it. check it out at night! Chase: big blue glowing billboard!! they want to establish presence & sdvertise. it's cheap for them. disgusting for us.
Deleteto add to last comment-- it's not about customers physically present in the bank, it's really just about advertising and establishing the impression of solidity -- they don't csre if they have actual people doing actual business -- it's mostly done online and at main branches --- in my opinion!
DeleteI still believe it's some kind of tax scam - because this explanation doesn't make any sense.
ReplyDeleteI bank at my old bank in CT and they refund the "foreign" ATM fees, so I haven't been to a branch in over two years.
There's a bank branch in my building and they signed a ten year lease and I have never seen anyone in there. I've been in there a couple of times to get change and I felt like they were surprised anyone walked in.
The (only slightly) good news is some of them will disappear. ALL the banks did it because if they didn't, the OTHER ones that were doing it would gain the advantage. So they all over-extended.
ReplyDeleteThe "real estate" value (as in advertising) is taken into account. But if you are a bank manger in charge of expanding, then you want to expand as much as possible. "I opened 32 branches last year, gimme my bonus".
So they over extend... and in a few years (when those bank managers are gone elsewhere) they will contract. Short term it's no help, but another 6 years or so they'll disappear.
There were 3 Starbucks at Astor Place at one point for a similar reason. Now there is one.
The Banksters of Wall Street are up to their old tricks again. The banks used to red line areas where they wouldn't invest or loan money, which created ghettos. which then all eventually became gentrified. Today they are flooding the same neighborhoods they used to redline with bank branches on every corner to drive out the local businesses, artificially driving up retail rents, thus speeding up the gentrification process.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Michael Corleone in The Godfather, "It's not personal, Sonny, it's strictly business."
For those that like to remind us that "NYC is always changing so we should shut up and just get use to it", there are lots of things we cannot change and agree nobody has built that time machine but that doesn't mean just lie down and let everything roll over you. It is possible to stop some of the changes if people get together and bring attention to the shitty stuff, get politicians to listen and exploit the media to gain momentum for positive change. We can also boycott businesses and services we find disruptive to mom and pop businesses. Saying get over it and give up may be how you look at life but the rest of us can at leasts bitch about it occasionally.
ReplyDeleteWord is bond 5:11. Bitching about shit is underrated I think. Many a sweeping societal change from the French Revolution to civil rights, probably started out as a bunch of people bitching. Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single bitch. When people cease to bitch, especially about community affairs, that is worry time. Megan and all her friends don't bitch about retail diversity in the EV. Jared and his bros don't care about the disappearance of mom and pop businesses. It's already happening.
ReplyDeleteI'm genuinely confused about what is so hard to walk, say, four blocks or one whole avenue to your bank branch. I've always had an account with Chase, and have been living in EV for the past 3 years now and it *STILL* blows my mind that there are FOUR Chase banks within a two-block radius of my apartment. Four.
ReplyDeleteThere have been times when I've left my apartment to go to the bank and couldn't decide which direction to walk in because literally no matter which way I went I would end up at a Chase in less than five minutes.
How/why is this necessary or beneficial to anyone? Seems like the banks are shelling out a small fortune in unnecessary real estate rent. Sometimes if I'm not paying attention, I'll pass a Chase bank on my way to the Chase bank. -_-
The actual reason there are so many bank branches in the east village is that there is a large amount of young people opening up accounts for the first time. banks see this as an opportunity to become their first banker and most people will stick with their original bank. Hook them here and you can make money off of them for life.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @ 5:45: What you are experiencing with Chase is VERY deliberate on their part. It seems Chase wants to be "the" bank - and to that end they have ended the contract with my (much smaller) bank's ATM affiliate.
ReplyDeleteFor me this means that where I previously could get cash at any Duane Reade ('cause that's where the Chase ATM's are... well, the ones that aren't in an actual Chase bank branch), NOW I am supposed to pay $3-7 per withdrawal for the "convenience". OR I can use what's left of my much smaller bank's ATM locations - few and VERY far between.
I refuse to pay what amounts to ransom to get my own $$ out of an ATM, so basically I'll probably open a TD account soon just to be able to use their nearby machines for free.
As to the person who said they can't imagine wanting to "hang around" in a bank branch, I'd like to point out that some of us don't have (and/or can't afford) the phones that have "instant deposit" apps. And some of us wouldn't trust those apps with a 10-foot pole. There is actually a need to go into a bank more often than you may imagine.
A major factor enabling banksters to saturate neighborhoods and afford rents in the $30,000+ per month range is a neat little scam they utilize, known as "Fractional Reserve Banking," whereby banksters are permitted by law to loan out TEN TIMES the amount of funds they have on deposit.
ReplyDeleteThis means that for every dollar on deposit, banks can lend TEN DOLLARS. Rather than realizing, say, 5% annual interest (or whatever the going rate is) on a $1,000 loan, for example, banksters realize 5% interest on $10,000, $9,000 of which DOES NOT EXIST, except on the bank's books!!
This effectively nets banksters a 50 PERCENT RETURN on the $1,000 that their sucker customers have on deposit with them, for which their customers get a measely one-tenth of one percent in annual interest.
If we made loans on and collected interest for something that we didn't have to lend or that doesn't exist, we could be nailed for committing FRAUD, but banksters get away with this every day. THAT'S what I call "bank robbery!!"
The only way to get them OUT of our neighborhoods is to pressure elected officials to get the zoning changed on each block to disallow them.
An even better way is BOYCOTT the banks. That means no deposits from us, no loans from them, no NOTHING.
Even banksters, with their ill-gotten gains, cannot withstand a sustained BOYCOTT. Watch 'em die off, like parasites that lose their host. This REALLY works....
I would legitimately love to get involved in an EV bank boycott. It's not possible for people to refrain from withdrawing or depositing at their bank, however it IS possible to do so in say, FiFi or midtown or anywhere else besides the EV.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:11 nails it. Also, join the Lower East Side People's Credit Union! If you live in the 'hood you qualify. And then you can rest your mind knowing you're not supporting this trend or the other horrible shit wreaked by Chase/TD/Wells Fargo/HSBC/Citi.
ReplyDeleteGrieve, Congratulations on seeing the larger picture!
ReplyDeleteI bank with the credit union on 3rd and B, and although there are only two branches—plus a cash machine on Avenue C—you can get cash out of your account at every McDonald's in the world without a fee!
ReplyDeleteLink to a cached version of the WSJ article (doesn't require a subscription):
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/pj599hu
We need another bank like we need another bar in the EV. There are way more bars than banks. Frankly if I had to make the choice I would choose the bank over the bar anytime, anyday. The only drunks you see in banks are the ones who were overserved at the bars and are now sleeping in the ATM lobby. I just love stepping over people to get to the ATM. Not.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we can ban banks and bars from the EV. Now that would be change for good. Then again, I can remember a time in the EV when you couldn't even find a bank. Besides the Emigrant in the old Filmore East (if any of you hipsters ever heard of it...it's from before your existence) you had to walk to 14t Street or Broadway to find a bank. But you could stop at 20 bars along the way and get smashed before you got cashed.
So let's not lament the Mars Bar. Not unless you also want to start moaning and crying about the Filmore East, Electric Circus, CBGB, The Bottom Line, etc, etc. These places made the EV what it is today....a nice place to live.
Fight back. Join the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union! Learn how to join here: https://lespeoples.org/about-us/how-do-i-join/
ReplyDeleteBeen banking there for years and love the feeling of walking by all the crappy banks that don't really invest in our neighborhoods and support THE PEOPLE. Fight the power with the power YOU HAVE. Bank at a credit union!
There are lots of other reasons for the prevalance of bank branches. One, as someone noted above, braches are adverstising. Two, branches are even more prevalent where you might have people starting out with a need for an account -- college students and new transplants are prime targets, and we got them in bulk. Banking is very sticky -- a ne customer is often a customer for a long time. Three, for retail space in residential buildings -- particularly coops where the residents have a say in such things -- a bank is the ideal tenant. No noise, no vermin, no smells, open 40 hours per week, a big balance sheet to guaranty rent, and they sign long leases. Any landlord would love to have them.
ReplyDeleteComplain about bank branches if you want, but they've made mugging obsolete, because no one ever cares more than a few $20s on them now. And people rarely woo-hoo when withdrawing, it doesn't make people vomit (unless metaphorically) or piss in my doorway, and they don't have pounding disco tunes until 4am (but that could change, i guess).
ReplyDeleteJust like in Virginia Beach VA where its all 7-11's on every corner!
ReplyDelete