When First Financial Credit Union decided to remodel its branch offices, senior management asked for a “hospitality” theme.
Rothenberg Sawasy Architects Inc. answered with a look you don’t often see in august lending institutions: rattan furniture, life-sized bamboo forest images on the walls and seaweed-embedded laminate glass at teller stations. The design brings to mind a tropical resort hotel complete with a ceiling fan overhead.
“This strategy enables us to reinforce the culture of our institution and make a statement which really distinguishes us from competitors,” said Larry Raspberrry, senior vice-president at West Covina-based First Financial, which has 20 branch offices in Los Angeles County.
Nicolas Ybarra, group director of interiors at Rothenberg Sawasy, said the tropical resort theme was a collaborative idea between Carlton Mussman, the president of First Financial, and the architecture firm.
“It was agreed that each branch should convey a relaxed atmosphere, a space that for a moment in time takes you away from the everyday grind,” he said.
Rothenberg Sawasy ranks No. 17 on the Business Journal’s directory of the county’s largest interior designers with 2006 revenues of $2.8 million. The firm has developed a specialty in the financial services sector.
The firm’s remodel for First Financial follows a trend in banking toward more casual d & #233;cor. It started in 2003 when Washington Mutual tried an experiment in unconventional banking at its Chicago branches.
“When consumers enter a store, a friendly concierge dressed in khaki pants and a casual shirt greets them and directs them to the appropriate service,” the company announced in a release. “Instead of standing behind a thick glass window while a teller conducts transactions, consumers can stand next to a Washington Mutual teller and watch as a checking or savings account is opened for them at a teller tower, a stand-alone kiosk with a computer.”
The bank now calls this design approach “occasio branches” (Latin for “favorable opportunity”) and holds a U.S. patent for the concept. The goal is to deliver “a banking experience that’s inviting, not institutional.”
“Washington Mutual, to my knowledge, was the first bank to try it,” said Rick Wemmers, senior partner at Wemmers Consulting Group in Atlanta.
The strategy doesn’t end with the wall hangings. Wemmers has visited bank branches with Starbucks coffee stations and free Internet access. Some of the Washington Mutual stores have video games and “action teller dolls” in their children’s play area. Instead of silence, contemporary jazz and pop music fill the air.
But the entire approach “goes against the majority of bank CEOs, who think it’s impertinent and frivolous to make the place fun because banks are supposed to be serious and conservative and solid,” Wemmers warns.
Interior design might make banking more comfy for customers, but Wemmers questions its return on investment.
“Some banks are looking at becoming more inviting on the premise that people will be more inclined to come into the branch and transact business,” he said. “Does that make a difference? In my experience, no. You can serve coffee and dress it up, but consumers today don’t have patience to stand in line when they have a drive-through or can go online.”
