Earlier this month, The Washington Trust Co. opened a new Providence branch in a storefront on Westminster Street. This week, Executive Vice President of Sales, Service and Delivery B. Michael Rauh Jr. took a few minutes to tell Providence Business News why the bank liked the location and discuss the steps it took in designing the façade and interior.
PBN: Let’s start with some basics: Where is the new branch, how big is it and when was the grand opening?
RAUH: Our new branch is at 156 Westminster St. in downtown Providence. The space is about 3,000 square feet and we had our grand opening celebration Friday, Dec. 12. We had about 70 people for the opening, including Mayor David N. Cicilline and a fife-and-drum corps. It was a great event.
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PBN: Tell me a little bit about the bank’s exterior design.
RAUH: We spent a good deal of time in New York looking at banks and other retailers in an urban setting to help us in the design of this branch. We decided that we wanted people to see all the way into the building, so there is a lot of glass up front. We also wanted to make sure that we used that visibility to help with the branding, so we complemented the exterior building signage with backlit signs on the soffits in the ATM vestibule as well as a back-lit sign in one of the windows. We also have a great star design on the ATM wall that goes along with our logo, as well as the words “Trusted Advisor since 1800” on the glass on the front of the building. Lastly, we wanted to provide a service to folks walking along the street to and from work so we put up a sign perpendicular to the building that has the time and temperature. The end result is that, from the street, the branch is very inviting and approachable and it portrays a great image of Washington Trust.
PBN: Will this branch replace the Washington Street branch? What’s the benefit to having a storefront on Westminster Street, as opposed to a standalone building on Washington Street?
RAUH: We really outgrew the space on Washington Street. We have added significantly to our commercial-lending team in Providence and there just wasn’t enough room for everybody. Ideally, we would have kept the commercial lenders and the branch together but we couldn’t find the right spot for both. We found great space for the commercial lending team at 10 Weybosset St., along with this location on Westminster Street for the branch. They’re only about a block apart and, as it turns out, it gives us good visibility in two locations downtown.
PBN: As far as the interior design, how does this new branch differ from other Washington Trust branches?
RAUH: One of the other things we saw on our New York trip that we liked a lot was the use of round or rounded furniture. Banks typically use square furniture and customers are forced to sit opposite the banker, which makes things very formal. We used rounded surfaces in this branch, so there is a much more relaxed feeling, almost like sitting at the kitchen table.
We also combined the teller line and the customer-service desks into a continuous area, so a single employee can cash a check or open an account without having to move from one side of the lobby to the other. All of our employees are cross-trained to perform all functions, so this setup makes that process much more efficient from a management standpoint. We also included a “greeter” station at the front of the lobby, so we have someone out front all of the time, making sure that people get taken care of quickly.
From a design standpoint, we complemented the curved furniture with a lot of other curves in the space. We used a beautiful terrazzo floor in the lobby with lots of interesting curves, along with a complementary carpet in the customer-service areas. And we put curved soffits throughout – some attached to the walls and some suspended from the ceilings. We also put a curved wall behind the greeter station. It really has a very soft modern feel to it.
The art and marketing materials are also quite different from a traditional bank branch. We didn’t want to take all of the beautiful design elements and hang standard marketing posters on the walls. Instead we took large, beautiful color photos of recognizable Providence scenes and overlaid very simple words like “invest” or “save.” The effect is really striking.
PBN: How does technology play a role in making this branch unique?
RAUH: Most of the customers that will use this branch work in the five-to-six-block area surrounding it and will stop by the branch on their way to or from work, or on their lunch break. We wanted to make sure that we are able to serve them quickly, so we’ve included some state-of-the-art, self-service technology that’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our full-service ATM has check-imaging capabilities, so our deposit receipts have a picture of the check a customer deposits and it has a cash counting function that allows customers to put in up to 100 bills at a time and the machine will count them and present the total deposit amount back for confirmation. Both of these functions make it easier and better than ever to make deposits at the ATM instead of at the teller line.
We also have a self-service Internet kiosk in the lobby. So if you have online banking you can check balances, make transfers, pay bills, etc. If you do have to wait for any period of time, we have an electronic queuing system, so instead of standing in a line, you can wait in a very beautiful and comfortable lounge area and use our Wi-Fi service. Our conference room is fully loaded with audio-visual services. There’s a 52-inch monitor on the wall and the conference room table has loads of power and data outlets for seminars, meetings and teleconferences.
We’ve tried hard to make sure that we used technology to provide self-service solutions where it makes sense and to complement the outstanding personal service that Washington Trust has always been known for. Our primary partners in this project were architect Bruce Bisbano, interior designer Deborah Ventrice, builder Steve Nappa and bank equipment supplier Diebold Inc. We’re all very proud of the way the branch has turned out, and the feedback we’ve gotten so far from customers has been extremely positive.
