The Citizens Bank branch on White Horse Road in Voorhees will be moving across the street, into a smaller building which previously was home to Smashburger.
The shopping center for the relocated bank is known as Echelon Village Plaza which offers Edge Fitness as it’s largest tenant.
Construction crews have been on site for several weeks doing interior and exterior work on the building.
While I have not seen the officially submitted site plans, it appears the new location will have a drive-up ATM machine but will not have a traditional human teller operated drive-thru.
The bank project was approved a year ago this month, along with a new building to be developed at the front entrance which is expected to be home to an Aspen Dental location.
For the Aspen Dental office, it was listed in the December 2021 Planning Board information and commentary. We have noticed that while the approved building is presented on the Shopping Center’s online leasing documentation , it is tagged as “Available”.
We previously reported that a Greens and Grains plant-based food restaurant is also in the works for the same shopping center.
Banks Are Rethinking Things in a Mobile World
Banks have recognize that the way customers interact with retail bank locations has changed. More and more customers are relying on online and mobile banking options for “basic” banking needs and are only utilizing branches for more complex assistance.
The industry notes that retail bank foot traffic is down. Teller windows are left unmanned as there aren’t enough customers walking in. Many branches in the area closing.
A May 2022 article at the Philadelphia Business Journal describes how Citizens Bank is aggressively reevaluating their branches, and in many cases instead of closing them (as is becoming more common in the industry), they are looking to relocate branches to small facilities matching today’s usage patterns.
In a multiple year effort, 42 Citizens branches are being relocated in total.
The Business Journal article goes on to say:
Instead of 5,000-square-foot branches with 11 teller bays, banks might have sites with 2,000 square feet and two teller bays.
Philadelphia Business Journal May 22, 2022 (Commentary attributed to Karen Swiatocha of Citizens Bank)
The new relocated branch for the Voorhees Citizens Bank will be 2,528 square feet, fitting that description.
Timing for the completion of the project is unknown at this point.
And what becomes of the former location? We found a real estate listing which seems to indicate they are looking for a tenant.
Links and Location
Citizens Bank – Voorhees (New location coming soon)
Echelon Village Plaza
1120 White Horse Road
Voorhees NJ