Banks try comfy, connected climate.

Byline: RETAIL NOTEBOOK By Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Walk into some banks these days and you might be surprised.

There are comfy chairs to sit in. Financial books to browse and buy. Televisions tuned to financial networks. Computer terminals to surf the Internet. Coffee to drink.

Aren't banks places to handle the routine tasks of giving or getting money? Don't most of us want to get out of a bank quickly, not hang around as java jockeys watching TV or checking Web sites?

Apparently, some bank executives think they can gain customers by enclosing the essential elements of a bank - tellers, personal bankers and the like - in an attractive, relaxed atmosphere with perks thrown in.

It remains to be seen if the bank-Internet cafe hybrids are a winning formula. But in Eugene, two Oregon-based banks embraced the strategy before their competitors did.

Umpqua Bank first started to break the stuffy mold of bank design seven years ago. Last spring, it unveiled its latest snazzy look at a branch in Portland's Pearl District, and followed that with the recent renovation of its bank at Sixth Avenue and Oak Street in Eugene.

Portland-based Umpqua plans to convert certain branches in various cities to the "Sip, Surf, Bank" format. It plans soon to make over its Umpqua Bank at West 11th Avenue and Bailey Hill Road, at a cost of about $300,000.

Umpqua's top executives like to call their banks "stores," and the new design, including large, backlit displays, aim to better show what the branches have to offer. "Our goal is that when you stand outside one of our stores, you see the financial products and services" that Umpqua offers, CEO Ray Davis said.

He is a fan of Starbucks, which bases much of its success on offering a "third place" besides home and work for people to gather.

Umpqua's comfortable chairs, coffee and Internet access are based on the same idea, Davis said.

Jay Tejera, a banking analyst with Ragen MacKenzie in Seattle, said banks are no longer places where people just make quick deposits and withdrawals. Banks offer insurance, investments and retirement planning, which fit the more relaxed environment that Umpqua and its imitators are trying to present.

Eugene-based LibertyBank, meanwhile, is preparing to build two bank branches in north Eugene, one at Coburg and Willakenzie roads, and the other in Santa Clara. The design will be similar to the look that LibertyBank used recently for a new branch on West 11th Avenue and to renovate its downtown bank.

Besides coffee, financial books and TV, LibertyBank will sell commemorative coins and other products in its lobby.

"We are not trying to be a retail store, but we are trying to give (customers) things for their financial success and some gift items that are financially related," CEO Bob Fenstermacher said.

So far, the new branches seem to be having their desired effect, he said.

Generally, customers seem to be more willing to spend time in the branches, much of the time getting financial advice, Fenstermacher said.

Other customers use the branches to meet friends or to have a cup of coffee and watch stock market reports.

"We definitely are not trying to be a Starbucks," Fenstermacher said. "We see ourselves as a bank, as a financial institution, and we are only trying to offer the customers what they said they need."

Retail Notebook runs Thursdays. Edward Russo can be reached at 338-2359 or [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard Umpqua Bank at Sixth and Oak offers a comfy setting where customers can read magazines, watch television or surf the Internet.