Baker Boyer closing Milton-Freewater branch
By Dan Thesman on Friday, March 18th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
MILTON-FREEWATER – Baker Boyer is not reopening its Milton-Freewater branch following the bank’s closure back in January due to flooding caused by a burst pipe.
The last day the branch will be open to the public is June 17, including the ATM and safe deposit boxes. The ATM will be open to the public until then and the lobby will continue to be closed except by appointment only. Clients with safe deposit boxes will be able to move their boxes to another location at no cost.
Baker Boyer said that during the pandemic, the Milton-Freewater community, as well as in many other communities it serves, embraced digital and mobile banking. This digital transformation has diminished the need of in-person transactions and the brick-and-mortar infrastructure that it costs to provide it. Baker Boyer said it made the decision not to re-open the Milton-Freewater branch because of the ways many of its clients have changed how they interact with the bank over the past decade.
Employees of the Milton-Freewater location have been reassigned to other Baker Boyer locations. There will be no layoffs because of the Milton-Freewater branch not reopening and there are no plans to close any other branches.
