All 46 Peoples Bank locations will soon be getting a face lift.
The changes are part of a $5 million renovation project designed to improve customers' banking experiences, said Chuck Sulerzyski, Peoples Bank president and CEO.
"We have an interest in being sort of 'Best in Class' for our customers," he said.
Article Photos
Rick Stafford, Peoples Bank’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, shows off the historic painted tray ceiling and antique lighting fixtures that make the branch’s Putnam Street headquarters unique. The ceiling and lighting fixtures are some of the features that will remain unchanged when the building undergoes renovations next May.
JASMINE ROGERS The
Marietta Times
The project will include changes, ranging from touch-ups to full scale renovations, to all of the bank's 46 locations spread throughout Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, said Rick Stafford, Peoples Bank executive vice president of sales and marketing.
One of the goals is to create a sense of cohesion among the different locations and at the same time make all of the branches feel fresh and energized, he said.
"I think what we're trying to do is create an environment a hair less traditional that we've been before," said Sulerzyski.
Fact Box
Peoples Bank renovations
All of the bank's 46 locations throughout Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky will receive varying degrees of updates and renovations.
The project is designed to improve customers' experiences by making the bank's locations more cohesive, tech friendly and energized.
The project will begin in January and is expected to be completed over an 18-month period.
The starting date of the renovations will be staggered, with construction set to begin on Marietta branches in May.
The cost of the project is expected to be $5 million.
One way they hope to accomplish this is by adding digital marketing elements to many of the bank's locations.
For example, "Instead of a poster showing our services, it'll be a flat screen," said Stafford.
Another goal of the project is to give the branches a sense of community mindedness. Customers will notice children's areas and community walls that will feature notices and upcoming events, he said.
Stafford also noted that the company will not be sacrificing the historical features of some of its older branches in the modernization process.
For example, the bank plans to keep the architectural features that make the bank's downtown Marietta headquarters so unique. The Italian Renaissance style building was erected at 138 Putnam St. in 1924 and boasts a painted tray ceiling and antique chandeliers that will be cleaned up, but otherwise left unchanged during renovations, said Stafford.
However, headquarters in Marietta will receive some cosmetic changes, such as new carpeting, signage and furniture, he said.
The renovations will be staggered over an 18-month period, said Sulerzyski, with construction beginning at Kentucky branches in January. Marietta locations can expect to see changes beginning in May, said Stafford.
The construction process will mostly take place at night and on weekends, so customers' regular banking experience will not be interrupted, he added.
Though the company has hired Cincinnati-based DEI to design the updates and oversee the construction, all of the locations will be using local contractors to do the work, said Sulerzyski.
The bank's newest location, which opened Monday at 1102 Grand Central Ave., Vienna, is an excellent prototype that already incorporates all of the aspects that customers will notice after renovations are complete, he said.
Lifelong Peoples Bank customer Mark Duckworth, 45, of Marietta, thinks the renovations will be great for the downtown business district.
"Just like what they did with the sidewalk out front...That looks great and I'm sure this will too," he said.
