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January 5, 2026
STEVENS POINT – Simplicity Credit Union’s Regional Branch Manager Michelle Easton said the organization is less than a month away from welcoming staff and members alike into its new branch in Stevens Point.
In the June 9, 2025, issue of The Business News, President and CEO Nick Faber said the merger of Simplicity’s Plover-area Post Road facility with the Stevens Point location on Hoover Road made it clear that the building was too small to keep up with the company’s expanding workforce.
“We’d actually had two different buildings, one was on Post Road [in the Plover area], which we closed and sold in 2024,” he said. “As we were looking at moving people over to [our] Hoover [Road location in Stevens Point, we realized] it was too small for our team.”
So, “a little more than two years ago,” Easton said the decision was made for the credit union to purchase property and build a new branch in the Portage County Business Park – not only for the betterment of its staff’s workplace satisfaction, but of its members’ experience as well.
“We really wanted everybody in one footprint,” she said. “We are currently moving out of our Hoover [Road] location… and are moving into the brand-new, beautiful building.”
New location, services
Upon the grand opening of Simplicity’s new Stevens Point branch – expected later this month – Easton said area members will have immediate access to PTMs (Personal Teller Machines).
“We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of credit unions all over the country about the PTMs,” she said. “We will have two PTMs [at] our drive-up, and that will [provide] 24/7 access for members.”
As opposed to an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine), Easton said PTMs can assist members in more complex transactions such as loan payments, account transfers, deposits and more.
“Simple is in our name – that’s what we’re trying to get to,” he said. “We are moving toward 24/7, 365-[days-a-year] access at all of our facilities. Neilsville is already up and running [around the clock].”
Looking ahead, Easton said the credit union plans to install an outdoor PTM in Marshfield next year, in addition to a planned remodel in Neenah.
These updates, she said, will allow all branches to provide these services to members.
The convenience of easy accessibility also played a role in selecting the Portage County Business Park location in Stevens Point, Easton said, as it is situated along a local bus route.
“It took us a long time to find a piece of property that we really felt would fill our needs, and this one is just perfect,” she said.
Even more perfect, Easton said, is the location’s proximity to Simplicity’s community partners – a benefit Faber discussed in the June 9 article.
“We’ll work a lot with the businesses in that whole park and throughout Stevens Point to ensure that we are still able to meet their needs,” she said.
Easton said the community has been incredibly supportive of Simplicity’s project and is excited for its opening.
“Our members have really been behind this the entire way, because I think they understand [the need], too,” she said. “They see us sharing offices [in our current location and] they see it’s a little cramped, so they’re very excited about the different features that we’re going to be able to offer them.”
During the planning phase of the project, Easton said Simplicity’s board advocated for a larger build than originally anticipated, allowing room for future expansion.
“They kept saying, ‘Nope – you don’t have enough room for growth,’” she said. “We have a board that really gets that and understands that.”
The new technology and additional “people space” that will be available at Simplicity’s new branch, Easton said, will assist its staff in providing its members with the best customer experience possible.
“As I’m sitting in my little office [on Hoover Road], we have a number of people who [are sharing] office spaces, because we just are a little bit smashed in,” she said. “So, I think the staff is excited about [the extra space], but – more than that – the staff is excited to be able to serve our members in a way that we haven’t been able to as of yet.”
For updates on the project, visit Simplicity Credit Union’s website – simplicity.coop – or find it on Facebook.
