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February 6, 2024
WINNECONNE — Premier Community Bank will formally break ground on a new Winneconne location in February or March, furthering its commitment to the community.
Premier first established a presence in the Town of Winneconne in April 2015, acquiring the former Anchor Bank location at 110 W. Main St.
Growth of the community and the bank, Robin Christian, senior vice president of retail, said prompted Premier to perform a market analysis that confirmed what the team already knew: Winneconne was growing and the bank’s less-than-2,500 square-foot location there was limited in how much it could grow with it.
“The market research showed Winneconne is a growing community whereas we aren’t able to offer all the services we have at Premier (at the current location),” Christian said.
Among them she said is an ongoing presence for insurance services through Premier Insurance Services, as well as investment services through Premier Investment Services.
In doing so, Christian said it will allow Premier to act as the full-service financial center it strives to be.
“Because of the size of our current location and only having two physical offices, we are limited on services we can’t offer consistently or well,” she said.
Robin Christian
Christian said the market analysis showed the need for a larger location — which in turn provides the opportunity to better serve Premier Community’s retail and commercial clients, as well as appeal to both current and future Premier employees.
“We’re recruiting in the Winneconne area and into the Fox Valley and want (a facility) that attracts and retains talent,” she said.
Customer- and employee-focused design
With end goals of both customer- and employee-focused experiences in mind, Christian has been a driving force behind the new location — which will be built two doors down the street from the bank’s current location on the site of the former Kwik Trip land and building.
Razing of that building, Christian said, will begin this month or next and then construction will follow, with an anticipated new location open date in October or so.
Christian said she has worked closely with the general contractor, The Redmond Company, to design the 7,050 square-foot building, as well as an interior designer on layout and color selection to create a warm, inviting and functional space.
“I have the honor of working directly with the architect to design the office for the next five to 10 years,” she said.
In addition to offering 10 business offices (versus two today), Christian said there will be seating areas for customers to linger, if desired.
“If people want to sit and have a cup of coffee and talk about Winneconne High School sports, that’s fine with us,” she said.
The new location also will feature two community rooms — which Christian said will be utilized for employee training but will have separate entrances to allow for use both during office hours, as well as after-hours by community members.
“That’s one of the things I learned after going to some town hall meetings — people want places to meet and host small meetings, and those (rooms) will fit that bill,” she said.
ITMs
While those areas and offices will allow for relationship-building face-to-face, Christian said so will a designated area for the employee who serves as a virtual teller for Premier.
Carrie Fischer is the teller behind Premier’s two (and counting) interactive teller machines (ITMs).
ITMs allow financial institutions to provide live teller service to customers who pull up to a machine much like they would an ATM, but with a live video feed.
In addition to offering 10 business offices, the new lobby will have seating areas for customers to linger, if desired. Rendering Courtesy of The Redmond Company
Currently, Premier Community Bank offers ITMs at its Weyauwega and Pulaski locations, with Fischer operating behind the scenes in the Winnecone branch’s break room because no other space was available.
Though these are the two entry communities for ITMs, Christian said Premier anticipates incorporating more of them, particularly in more rural communities, prompting them to include a designated space in the new location to accommodate Fischer.
Though ITMs bring the best of video and touch technology, Christian said the in-person touch offered in a brick-and-mortar location, such as Premier’s Winneconne branch, is an essential part of Premier’s customer service equation.
“We have been hearing for 10 years that ‘branches are going away’ or ‘you’ll never build another branch’ — but that’s not true,” she said. “While people want the convenience of digital banking for things like mobile deposits, people — especially in smaller communities — still want to come in and talk about more complex banking needs.”
These, Christian said, may run the gamut from a home loan, car loan and handling a parent’s estate on the retail side of the business to business sales, succession planning and sale of a business to another generation, agricultural business needs, etc.
“With some of these situations, we need room to spread out and (accommodate) attorneys, accountants and others (for meetings),” she said. “Fortunately, we will have the space to host those things here.”
More space, more services
In addition, Christian said the new building will provide plenty of space for agricultural lending and banking, as Premier is a strong agricultural lender.
“Many of our communities are rural and smaller, and the livelihood in many of those has been farming,” she said. “We have lenders focused on ag lending, and they’re good at it.”
Christian said the branch will allow the bank to continue to deliver the premier customer service for which it is known.
“We look at situations and questions and our answers don’t come from a procedures book,” she said. “Do we have procedures? Of course. But our employees are trained to share the story with me or a branch manager so if there is a way we can help, we will. We have those conversations so our service is more customizable.”
Robin Christian, senior vice president of retail, said Premier worked with the general contractor, The Redmond Company, to design the 7,050 square-foot building, as well as an interior designer for layout and color selection. Rendering Courtesy of The Redmond Company
In addition, Christian said the new Winneconne branch team delivering that service will grow from seven employees to nine or 10 on the day it opens, with even more growth potential anticipated.
“When we purchased the Winneconne office in 2015, we knew it was a good market and our kind of market,” she said. “It has grown incredibly. The Winneconne community has been supportive, and we’re thrilled to be doing this (new build).”
Christian said Premier’s methodology differs from the larger financial institutions, including those who vacated branches in a few of the communities Premier now serves.
“Communities like Weyauwega and Winneconne deserve good service, and it doesn’t matter that their population doesn’t have an extra comma in it, to quote our president and CEO, Thomas Pamperin,” she said. “We are a people’s bank. We thrive in these smaller markets and are fortunate our board of directors and shareholders allow us to continue to commit to doing what we do for our communities.”
Premier is headquartered in Marion and has offices in Shawano, Pulaski, Waupaca, Weyauwega, Fremont, Iola, Manawa, Tigerton, Bear Creek and Winneconne.
