NAPIER Street businesses will lose access to a nearby bank branch as Bendigo Bank's White Hills facility shuts it doors.
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The branch and associated ATM will close at the end of June.
The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank cited falling customer interaction at the branch, compared with others in the city, as reason for closing.
The branch sits in a strip of shops along Napier Street. Some businesses say the effects will flow onto the area, others say it won't make a difference to them.
Richardson's Bakery owner Karen Richardson said people came to the strip to go to the bank, then shop, or go to the chemist, or post office.
Ms Richardson said she went to the bank every day. She wasn't surprised in mid-March to hear it was closing though.
"We were just politely told, you've got to go to Eaglehawk, Strathdale, or into town," Ms Richardson said.
"[It's] very hard if you've got people bringing in $50 notes, and you've run out of $20s and $10s, and you've got nowhere to go. Being robbed that many times, we don't keep cash in here.
"Everyone's struggling at the moment to keep their doors open, then to lose a bank, that even makes it harder."
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank head of local banking Nick Carter speculated customer numbers had dropped in White Hills because a younger demographic had moved into the growth corridor.
Mr Carter said the bank had experienced strong growth in mobile banking within the corridor.
"We've just seen that natural shift in the population, that's prepared to do banking in other ways," he said.
Mr Carter said the bank was confident it would present an distribution network aligned with the needs of its customers moving forward.
The bank will introduce a "Branch of the Future" as part of the changes its Bendigo network.
Mr Carter said the bank knew it needed to keep up with the new world, much of it digital.
But he said it believed banking could be enhanced by experience in-branch.
The branch will be the fourth of its type following on from Carlton in Melbourne, Norwood in Adelaide and Leichhardt, Sydney.
Mr Carter said the design had been informed by the Bendigo community.
The Mitchell Street "Branch of the Future" is due to open in late 2020.
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