HOLYOKE — A few weeks after opening a new branch at the former historic Yankee Pedlar Inn in its hometown, PeoplesBank isn’t slowing its growth.
A company executive said last week that plans are in the works for the Holyoke-based bank to construct a new branch at a busy South Hadley intersection, with another branch being eyed in another unnamed community in the pipeline a short time later.
Earlier this month, PeoplesBank opened its newest branch at one of the busiest intersections in Holyoke — the site of the former Yankee Pedlar Inn at the corner of Route 202 and Northampton Street.
The new branch accomplished two goals for PeoplesBank — it gave the bank a new branch to replace two existing ones in the Elmwood and Highlands sections of Holyoke, and it was a chance to help preserve a part of the city’s history.
“In the banking business, you have to sort of update the branches or you don’t look relevant anymore,” Matthew Bannister, the bank’s first vice president. “And so we were looking to update the branches or look for a location where we could combine the branches into one.”
The inn, built in the 1880s and owned by Judge John Hildreth, was called The Hildreth House until the 1970s when it was purchased by the Yankee Pedlar Inn. The inn served as a restaurant and gathering spot for the Holyoke community until 2015, when the site was sold to the Clayton family, which operated a restaurant and catering business there.
When the Claytons decided to sell two years later, PeoplesBank bought the building for $1.2 million and announced plans to repurpose it.
In addition to an opportunity to consolidate branches, Bannister said bank officials also wanted to honor the memory of the Hildreth House and Yankee Pedlar Inn.
“We don’t think anyone else would have restored it,” he said. “I think we had a great outpouring of support and respect from the community for what we did.”
The history of the property is displayed in the branch’s architecture. The wraparound porch, gray exterior and community room all pay homage to the appearance of the Hildreth House of the 1800s.
According to Bannister, the top floor of the building hasn’t changed much since the days of the inn. In fact, a former guest bathroom can be seen by climbing a rung ladder in a storage closet. Bannister also says the basement retains the Pedlar touch, evident in the long walkways under the building.
The new structure, however, features the latest in technology and is ecofriendly. The branch is certified with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) designation, which is a “measure of energy efficiency for a building,” Bannister said.
In addition to traditional banking services, the branch offers VideoBanking-ITM, which is an “interactive teller machine.” Customers can drive up to one of the machines and speak to a teller on the screen. Almost all of their banking transactions can be completed as if they were inside the bank. The only difference is the teller is located at PeoplesBank headquarters on Whitney Street in Holyoke.
About a dozen people work at the bank full time, while others work there as needed.
“Extra hours and extra efficiency for us and for the customer, extra hours and more transactions you can do,” Bannister said.
He said foot traffic at the bank has been heavy since it opened the day after Labor Day.
“We’ve actually been surprised by how heavy the traffic has been,” Bannister said. “Partly, I think it’s the curiosity that people are coming in to see what we did with the Pedlar in addition to doing their regular banking business.”
Still, with all the business, it’s hard for Bannister to measure its duration.
“The jury’s still out on the Pedlar. It might be a moment in time that once the novelty wears off, it gets back to normal,” he said. “But then again, (I’m) not sure whether it’s a reflection of, again, the two branches into one as well. So, we could see that traffic maintain itself.”
More expansion is on the horizon for PeoplesBank. The bank recently bought a parcel of land on the corner of Newton and Lyman streets in South Hadley, where plans are being drawn up to construct a new branch. That branch will replace an outdated nearby branch on Newton.
Bannister said the bank will also open two additional branches in the next year or two, one in Enfield, Connecticut and another in a western Massachusetts community that he declines to name at this time.
“We haven’t officially announced the town yet,” Bannister said.
PeoplesBank currently has 20, including Holyoke and the Hampshire County communities of Northampton, South Hadley, Hadley and Amherst.