Many transactions that used to require a visit to a bank branch, such as to deposit a check or wire someone money, now can be done with a smartphone in the comfort of one's own home.
As more banking has migrated online and to mobile devices, banks closed a record 3,324 brick-and-mortar branches across the United States last year, according to the business intelligence data service S&P Global Market Intelligence. Big national banks like U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. closed the most.
The shrinking of banks' physical footprints nationwide included net closings of 58 branches in Indiana and 129 bank locations in Illinois.
Northwest Indiana lost 10 bank branches between June 30 of 2019 and June 30 of last year, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. A total of 30 banks operated 247 branches in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Starke and Pulaski counties last year, down from 257 branches the previous year.
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That's down from 37 banks operating 294 branches in Northwest Indiana in 2015 and 43 financial institutions with 316 brick-and-mortar locations in 2010, according to the FDIC. Northwest Indiana has lost 69 bank branches or more than 21.8% of the total since 2010.
In Northwest Indiana, Chase closed three branches, Fifth Third Bank three branches, BMO Harris three branches, First Financial Bank one, and KeyBanc one branch in the last year for which data is available. Chase has shuttered 10 branches in Northwest Indiana over the past six years, going from 34 branches in 2015 to 24 branches last year.
"A significant number of branches have closed in markets where there's been consolidation," said Ben Bochnowski, president and CEO of Peoples Bank and a board member for the Indiana Bankers Association. "The bigger banks tend to do more of the acquisitions, and branches end up consolidated in the markets where there have been mergers. You don't need another McDonald's if there's already a McDonald's five blocks away. The larger banks realized they don't need as many branches to serve the same number of customers."
Technology is the other driving factor.
"Especially during the pandemic, people learned to do more of their banking on their phones," Bochnowksi said. "You'll continue to see the transition to fewer branches, but branches won't disappear. They'll just have fewer teller windows and be more focused on engagement and value-added financial services, both in Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland and across the country. It's like the Apple Store where they only have four or five retail stores in Chicagoland that serve millions of customers. They're determined customers can take care of many things themselves but might need help picking out the right device, might need help learning about something they don't understand or might need another value-added service."
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated a trend that's been underway for years, as branches closed their lobbies as a safety precaution and more people stayed home, said Micah Pollak, associate professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest.
"COVID-19 has accelerated the switch to online services for many consumers, including for their banking and finance needs," he said. "Fewer people visit bank branches in-person now and many banks are reducing the number of branches they have or the staff in branches in response."
The closures continue. First Midwest Bank, which has closed nine branches since coming to the Region in 2006 by acquiring Bank Calumet and Standard Bank and Trust, plans to close 15% of its branches this year because of the shift to more online banking. It just closed locations in Schererville and on Hohman Avenue in Hammond.
While many people have taken to online banking, many consumers and communities could get left behind, Pollak said.
"The demand for in-person banking services is ultimately going to determine where bank branches are closed," he said. "In communities that rely more on in-person banking, branches are more likely to remain open. In communities that have adopted online banking more readily, branches are more likely to close or be downsized. For individuals that do not wish to use online services, this may make banking more difficult."
Some banks continue to grow their physical footprint. Merrillville-based Centier, which now operates 42 branches in Northwest Indiana, opened a new branch in Michigan City and is in the process of building a standalone branch in St. John, though it's closing in-store branches in three Strack & Van Til supermarkets.
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Craft brewery, T-shirt shop, Dairy Belle and Redamak's open
Open
Figure 8 Brewing was unfortunately unraveled, but craft brewing is knot over at that spot in downtown Valparaiso.
Blockhead Beerworks, the in-house brewery of the restaurant group behind Tomato Bar and Ricochet Tacos, took over the former Figure 8 space at 150 Washington St. on the courthouse square, where it serves a variety of craft beers and Asian fusion food as well as sushi rolls.
The menu includes short rib potstickers, Korean BBQ fries, cali rolls and other specialty sushi rolls, steam buns, fried rice, drunken noodles, pork belly and "pho realsies." Drinks include craft beer that has been offered at Tomato Bar for years, as well as beers from other breweries, both based in Northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland, like Windmill, Devil's Trumpet, Burn 'Em, New Oberpfalz, War Pigs, Lagunitas and Half Acre.
Blockhead also serves saki, including the Rihaku Wandering Poet with "notes of banana and ripe honeydew with a clean, crisp acidity that highlights its light-to-medium body."
In addition to craft beers, Blockhead Beerworks offers craft cocktails like the Lost Lego with Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Hard Truth Toasted Coconut Rum, palm sugar simple syrup, lime juice and ginger beer, and the Dragonglass, with Cardinal Spirits Pride Vodka, lychee, fresh ginger, jasmine tea and barkeep organic apple bitters.
Blockhead Beerworks is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
For more information, visit blockheadbeer.com, email info@blockheadbeer.com or call 219-707-5749.
Open
Rockablock is now serving up "inspiring designs for inspiring people."
A graphic designer who worked for Jet magazine, Ebony magazine and the Chicago Tribune opened the T-shirt shop and clothing store at 7884 Broadway in the Liberty Square Shopping Center in Merrillville.
"I started a T-shirt printing shop in my house in 2017," owner Rockland Page said. "Year-over-year the business has grown. It went from being a hobby and a creative outlet to a full-grown business."
Page was ready to display his T-shirts at festivals in Hyde Park and the annual comic book convention at McCormick Place before the coronavirus shut everything down last year.
"COVID hit and I thought, what am I going to do?" he said. "I don't know if I'm going to get enough orders from the website to help the business sustain itself."
Open
But then ABC 7 featured Page and Rockablock. He started getting more than 100 orders for T-shirts a day.
"I was trying to figure out how to help the business sustain itself, then it kept blowing up from the interview," he said.
So Page moved Rockablock into Liberty Square Shopping Center, where in addition to selling T-shirts and clothes, he plans to host live events at least once a month starting with a comedy night.
"I always loved drawing and painting and wanted to be a comic book artist but wasn't good enough at that type of thing," he said. "I liked telling stories and highlighting the positive at Jet magazine and the Chicago Tribune newspaper but got tired of sitting at a cubicle. I realized I would get laid off any day now and went to work for an engineering firm as a designer. It paid the bills but wasn't fulfilling. I decided the take the chance and do my own things."
The coronavirus pandemic forced his hand. He went from working 40 hours a week to 14 hours a week, so was left with plenty of time to come up with his own business.
"It took on a life of its own," he said. "I've always wanted to do art, and the T-shirts were just the canvass. I've been able to reach hundreds of thousands of people at one time with the T-shirts. It's been a great experience affecting people's lives."
Open
Top-selling shirts include the Freedom Fighters shirt that highlights prominent black historical figures like Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DeBois, Harriett Tubman and Marcus Garvey.
Rockabloack also sold many "Not Today Karen," "The King and I" and "6 Wings Fried Hard with Salt and Pepper" shirts.
Rockablock shirts have paid homage to a variety of subjects, including Harold's Chicken, Black Lives Matter and African-American history.
"I try to come out with a new shirt every few weeks or at least every month," he said. "I try to print out only 25 or 30 at a time so they sell out and I can keep the inventory fresh."
Open
He never imagined he'd have a store of his own.
"I didn't want a brick-and-mortar store at a time when so many retailers were closing down," he said. "It was just a hobby I was doing in my house. But it became so big I no longer had the space to work through the piles of shirts, let alone work through the creative process."
The new space in Merrillville serves as a retail space, e-commerce hub and live events venue. Page eventually would like have to have wine-and-screenprint nights, similar to wine-and-paint nights, in which visitors can learn how to design their own T-shirts.
"This sets a stage for us," he said. "We learned how to do our T-shirts full-time. We'd like to grow the brand into a household name. We'd like to grow the brand into skateboarding and rock and growth all over the country. We'd like to create jobs and work with other designers. A place like this normally only exists in Chicago, but I look forward to bringing it to Northwest Indiana. I just want to design shirts that make people laugh, inspire people and tell some kind of stores."
Rockablock also offers hoodies, sweatshirts and other clothes. Eventually, it plans to offer activewear.
"We're not your typical T-shirt shop," he said. "We're where you can feel welcome, feel different in art or design or whatever, and feel you can be creative."
For more information, visit between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon until 5 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, call 219-472-8483, visit rockablock.com, or find the business on Facebook or Instagram.
Reopen
Dairy Belle has reopened for the season.
The iconic family-owned ice cream shop — a "neighborhood favorite and a nostalgic place of enjoyment" that dates back to 1950 — serves up real soft-serve ice cream, as well as sundaes, shakes and malts.
Its ice cream parlors in Hammond, Schererville, Crown Point and Cedar Lake have reopened for the season with classic flavors like chocolate, vanilla and twist and new ones like pistachio.
Reopen
Redamak's has reopened for the season.
Reopen
The legendary burger joint at 616 E. Buffalo St. in New Buffalo, Michigan claims to be a "little seasonal restaurant on the lake." But the roadhouse in Harbor Country, a perpetual staple of many Region residents summers, has repeatedly been named one of the best burgers in Michigan and the United States.
Reopen
Still cash-only, the home of "the hamburger that made New Buffalo, Michigan famous" draws large crowds and often has long lines during the peak beach season. Dating back to the 1940s, it's cultivated loyal fans with its Wisconsin cheese curds, breaded clam strips, lake perch tacos and, of course, hand-crafted burgers, including The Legendary, The Ultimate and The Wilson Street Burger, which stuffs a beefy patty, Parmesan garlic sauce, Swiss cheese and grilled onions into a brioche bun.
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email joseph.pete@nwi.com.
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Joseph S. Pete
Business Reporter
Joseph S. Pete is a Lisagor Award-winning business reporter who covers steel, industry, unions, the ports, retail, banking and more. The Indiana University grad has been with The Times since 2013 and blogs about craft beer, culture and the military.
