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‘HEARTH ROOM’ BANKING
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By Bill Beggs Jr.
Wearing a T-shirt, jeans and work boots, the customer strode through the double doors of the Midwest BankCentre in Des Peres. About halfway across the lobby he stopped, his confused look soon giving way to outright astonishment.
“This is bizarre!” he said, surveying a cozy, homey space that resembled a coffee shop more than a bank. There was no marble counter to approach—and no tellers to stand behind one, even if there was.
Brooklyn Webb, manager of the company’s “Neighborhood BankCentre,” broke into an easy smile. She let the confused customer soak it all in for a few more seconds, then stood up and invited him over to her desk. All he needed was to deposit a check, he said. Webb shook his hand and completed the transaction right there. When she was finished, the man took his time walking back toward the door.
Clearly, he won’t forget the experience.
 John B. Biggs Jr., chairman, Midwest BankCentre, shown here at the Chesterfield location. |
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John B. “Jack” Biggs Jr., chairman of Midwest BankCentre, says that’s the whole point behind the company’s innovative boutique banking centers. “We’re very interactive with the customer,” Biggs says. “We’re all about building relationships. If you work to make the other person successful, success will take care of itself.”
At the Chesterfield Valley location, another visitor took a moment to get his bearings, too. This space is done in wood and stone, and has a sunny, Southwestern feel. It could be a ski lodge, a country club, or Taliesen West in Arizona. A flickering flame glowed from the stone fireplace. “We don’t call the bank lobby a ‘lobby,’” Biggs says. “We call it the hearth room.”
The room is designed for doing business, just not business as usual. In addition to banking, it doubles as an Internet café, a place to relax while waiting to meet with a banker for investment advice, or to tie the loose ends on a commercial loan. Meanwhile, you can catch up on the news or check the stock ticker on the plasma-screen TV—or enjoy a cup of coffee that Biggs freely admits is not as good as Starbucks.
So what’s going on?
It starts with the understanding that the average person keeps his or her money in 10 or more locations: annuities, lines of credit, 401k’s, etc. Midwest BankCentre hopes its customers will slow down and think about the convenience of keeping most—if not all—of their assets in one place. And it stands to reason that a customer who feels comfortable staying at a Midwest BankCentre will also do more business there.
William W. Zielonko, executive vice president at Midwest BankCentre, heads up the bank’s retail, marketing and human resources functions. Zielonko says about 56,000 cars pass the Des Peres location in one direction each day. And since 85 percent of banking is done by women, he says the lighting, color and design scheme “is a way to differentiate ourselves from the 100 banks along Manchester.” says Zielonko. The “big, institutional feeling” that Zielonko and his colleagues strove to eliminate is nowhere to be seen...or felt. The experience should be anything but intimidating, he says—after all, any bank transaction is “just a discussion.”
As you might expect, a customer service
specialist at (314) 631-5500 will not treat you as an interruption, but engage you in conversation for as long as you need. And upon visiting www.midwestbankcentre.com, you may want to stay there awhile, too.
Bill Beggs Jr. is a St. Louis-based freelance writer.
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