They offer free coffee and Wi-Fi, as well as sell T shirts, hats, customized indie-music CDs–and, oh yeah, have a “teller bar” where customers can conduct financial business. The idea is to build branches fast and cheap, and to attract new and younger depositors.
The new spaces occupy 1,500 square feet, can be built and opened in eight weeks and cost about a third of what traditional big banks cost. The boutiques include interactive TV screens showing the latest bank products and services, along with tables where customers can dawdle over breakfast while they listen to the latest mortgage pitch. Bank president Raymond Davis admits he likes to borrow ideas from other successful businesses, so he hired Ritz Carlton to train Umpqua employees. The teller counters are modeled on the genius bars at Apple Stores. Davis emulates Starbucks, too, but with plans to open just 15 more bank stores by the end of 2007, he obviously can’t compete with the coffee company’s 5,393 outlets. He just wants to tap into the same caffeine-motivated customers.
title: “But No Free Toaster” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Craig Lamarche”
They offer free coffee and Wi-Fi, as well as sell T shirts, hats, customized indie-music CDs–and, oh yeah, have a “teller bar” where customers can conduct financial business. The idea is to build branches fast and cheap, and to attract new and younger depositors.
The new spaces occupy 1,500 square feet, can be built and opened in eight weeks and cost about a third of what traditional big banks cost. The boutiques include interactive TV screens showing the latest bank products and services, along with tables where customers can dawdle over breakfast while they listen to the latest mortgage pitch. Bank president Raymond Davis admits he likes to borrow ideas from other successful businesses, so he hired Ritz Carlton to train Umpqua employees. The teller counters are modeled on the genius bars at Apple Stores. Davis emulates Starbucks, too, but with plans to open just 15 more bank stores by the end of 2007, he obviously can’t compete with the coffee company’s 5,393 outlets. He just wants to tap into the same caffeine-motivated customers.
