State Bank - Broken Arrow, OK (page2)

(...previous page) "Our heritage comes from Sam Walton," Stacy continues. "The Waltons have been involved in banking for a long time. I was president of their bank in Bentonville, Ark., for 14 years. When they bought this bank in Tulsa, I came to run it."

Stacy hit on the idea of designing a bank-store a few years ago while driving to Springfield, Mo., to visit his son in college. Upon arriving, he would stop at one of those large gas station and convenience store combinations that have sprung up across the

...HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BUILD A RETAIL BANK?...

According to Burton E. Stacy, president and CEO of State Bank and Trust, NA, a true retail bank building dramatically cuts the cost of bank construction. "We haven't been able to build a conventional bank for less than $125 per square foot," he says. He and Stephen L. Morrill of SLM and Associates built State Bank and Trust's new facility for much less. The 4,500-square-foot building cost a mere $65 a square foot, while the canopy that extends out in front and back of the building itself cost just $8 per square foot. Better yet, Stacy says, it's possible to erect one of these new designs in 90 days. Try that with a conventional bank. Try that with your next store, for that matter.

Inside the 4,800-square-foot space, the un-bank design continues with luxurious
club chairs in the lobby, hot popcorn for visitors, and bankers' offices around
the perimeter, walled in glass and deliberately designed without doors.

Midwest and beyond. There, he would buy gas, a cup of coffee and a carton of milk, while shooting the breeze with the charming folks inside. "They would greet me and thank me for coming in, and then try and sell me something else," Stacy says. "I realized this was exactly what we had to get going in banking. We should be retail-minded and aggressively friendly."

Stacy's new State Bank and Trust building in Tulsa reflects the influence of these popular gas and convenience stores, as well as recent Limited and Gap designs, a number of supermarket concepts, plus ideas from virtually any other store Stacy has visited and liked. To develop the design of the bank-store, Stacy turned to Stephen Morrill, the principal of SLM & Associates, a bank design firm located in Carthage, Mo. Although Morrill specializes in bank design today, his background lies in retail store design. He has worked in store planning firms

with clients the likes of Macy's and I. Magnin.

Stacy asked Morrill to develop a design that would position State Bank as a retail store, include a drive-thru, cost little enough to repeat as the chain grew, and accommodate swift construction.

At State Bank,
retail banking is not
a word game
that simply replaces
the word
service
with the word
product.

Morrill began with the exterior and decided to modify the design of a canopied self service gas station. "Gas stations have large canopies with 12-foot overhangs," Morrill says. "There is little detailing on the fascia, no landscaping (next page...)


text by Michael Fickes	[Page 1] [Page 2] [Page 3] [Page 4]	Photography by Eliot Neel

Banking the retail way
A banker and a store designer believe banks should look and feel more like stores.