A Bank That Really Makes Change. . . New Branch is Cyberswank, Ultramodern

The Boston Globe
By Joseph P. Kahn

March 9, 2002

Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, said it was because "that's where the money is." Today Sutton might be tempted to add that it's also where the free coffee, fresh doughnuts, cozy fireplace, and Internet access are.

All those amenities, plus CNN on a wide-screen TV and a choice of daily newspapers to peruse, are available at the Wainwright Bank & Trust Co. branch in Somerville, which opened in Davis Square last month. The bank's glitzy new street front cyber café is one way bank officials hope to attract students and young professionals who want more than low-cost checking and competitive interest rates. With most banks offering basically the same services and product line, one wonders: Can lo-cal lattes, free childcare, and professional pedicures be far behind?

"Retail banking in general is rethinking the customer's experience in the branch, and this is a good example," says Steven Young, a Wainwright senior vice president who worked on the new design. "We picked the Davis Square locale for its mix of residents and its artistic focus, thinking that the whole idea of a cyber café would play well here." Adds Young, whose bank is also known for it's socially progressive investment and management policies, "Bohemian ZIP codes and neighborhoods with a lot of urban professionals, that's where we want to be."

Sutton, that old Bohemian, might not even recognize the place as a bank, period, much less one worth knocking over. The lounge area includes a pair of comfy armchairs, plush wall-to-wall carpeting, a freestanding glass-walled hearth, and a curvilinear conference table with several chairs pulled up around it. The interior color scheme, which extends into the bank proper, resembles a giant tequila sunrise, with bright reds, pinks, and oranges splashed everywhere. Arty neon and halogen lighting accent the un-bank like, postmodern look.

Visitors (you don't have to be a bank customer) can take up to 20 minutes apiece to access e-mail accounts and surf the Web via a pair of Kiosk Information Systems terminals hooked up to high-speed T1 lines. Nonprofit organizations holding Wainwright accounts can also use the room - it seals off from the rest of the bank at the push of a button - as an after-hours meeting room. "We want it to be a community service day and night, " explains Young.

Founded in 1987, Wainwright, with $500 million in assets, also operates eight other branches in Back Bay, Downtown Crossing, Jamaica Plain, Cambridge, and Watertown, though none quite so modern in flavor. According to Young, the only similarly styled cyber cafés located within banks are located - this should come as no surprise - in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. One Citi Bank branch in Manhattan installed a 20-foot video wall playing MTV nonstop, and it was a smash hit, says Young.

Other Boston-area banks provide free Internet access to their customers, he adds, but there's always room for something new. "I was basically pushing the architect to get wilder, not the other way around," Young says rather proudly.

The bank hasn't been advertising its new cyber café much yet - the formal ad campaign starts this week - so foot traffic has, been slow so far. One customer taking advantage of the Internet hookup was Kenny Butler, a musician from Somerville. He and his partner, Rebecca Racz, a design manager at WGBH, were in the bank one recent morning, checking out sites on the KIS terminal. "It's hard to imagine a bank would have a place where you can do all this stuff, but I like it," said Butler. Racz said she'd opened her Wainwright account long ago, before the move to Davis Square, so this cyber café is a bonus, she said.

Other than the two of them, the run on coffee and doughnuts was light that morning. But these young professionals don't necessarily keep typical banker's hours, either. According to branch manager Scott Noble, there were perhaps 20 people milling about the cafe area last Saturday, watching TV and waiting their turn on the KIS terminal.

Several have commented on the fireplace by asking, so, where's the aquarium? "Maybe that's next," Young muses.

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