After 50 years of service, RBC is closing Callander branch

The news that Callander’s RBC branch was set to close this October 25 was crushing to many of the bank’s local clients. The Royal Bank has stood on the corner of Lansdowne and Main Street for the past 50 years, and the loss of services is difficult to take for many.

The pending closure is “challenging” and “disappointing,” noted Randy Tredenick, RBC’s Regional Vice President. He oversees branches in our region, those in Barrie, Muskoka, and north to Kirkland Lake.

He spoke – along with the staff of Callander’s branch, including manager David Earle and Meagan Quirt-Jobin – to a crowd of about 70 people this evening at Callander’s Community Centre. Those gathered calmly sat within the large hall of the community centre, listening to the presentation. Any festering anger towards the bank’s decision to leave town was kept within. There were no outbursts, and no arguments were made during the meeting. People had the chance to ask questions via a paper form, and afterwards, could speak their minds when the microphone was passed around.  

The meeting was meant to help clients make a smooth transition to their new branch, the RBC in North Bay at 925 Stockdale Road. Closing the branch was a “difficult” decision, he told the crowd, one “not taken lightly” by the bank.

See: Callander’s RBC branch set to close this fall

So why close?

“Less than 10 per cent of our clients use a branch,” Tredenick said. With less people coming through the door, the bank decided it was time to consolidate branches. At one time, “everything happened within the four walls of the branch,” Tredenick detailed, but technology has changed the way people bank.

Branches will remain, as clients still want physical branches, Tredenick said, but “We just can’t have a branch on every Main Street.”

This evening’s meeting was intended to inform clients about the services the bank offers, including online and phone banking options. Tredenick assured all the North Bay branch’s staff is “ready to welcome you.”

The staff at the Callander RBC are already working at the Stockdale branch two days a week, and after October 25, will work there full-time. No jobs will be lost.

Tonight’s meeting also offered an opportunity for people to ask questions, and most wanted to know if there would be an ATM available in town after the bank closed its branch. Tredenick assured there would be a bank machine, and RBC is in the process of locating a suitable area.

Before the meeting, the bank asked that no recordings be made or photos taken of the room, to maintain the privacy of its clients.

Safety deposit boxes will remain at the Callander branch until noon on October 24. Clients will automatically have their accounts moved to the North Bay branch, and for those with a full chequebook, those cheques can still be used, even after the branch closes. The transit number on cheques stays the same.

See: LETTER: Royal Bank should take better care of its Callander customers

However, although the RBC staff is eager to help people make the transition – “we’ll always find solutions to help our clients,” Tredenick said – not everyone is keen about the 18-minute drive to North Bay’s branch.

For those with mobility issues, no car, or no computer, the solutions offered by the bank may seem out of reach.  However, although there is “no perfect time to make a change,” Tredenick said, “We will do everything we can to support you during this transition.”

Earlier today, before the town hall meeting, Winston MacDonald reached out to BayToday. He had read the original story about the branch’s closure and was “disappointed” by the news.

He was looking forward to attending the branch’s 50th anniversary. MacDonald came to Callander from Halifax in 1974 to open that branch on Main Street. After opening the location in November, he built a house and lived in Callander for three years while he managed the branch.

“We really enjoyed Callander,” he said, but he was transferred to a few different bank branches before he landed in Ottawa, where he finished out his banking career.

“I’m an old, retired banker now,” he said, “and I do realize that walk-in traffic in the branches has diminished with most clients using electronic banking and ATMs.” However, he mentioned how businesses and elderly clients “suffer tremendous inconvenience when their bank leaves town.” A similar thing happened at a branch he managed “several years ago.”

“I am sad for the citizens and businesses of Callander, whose residents must now deal with the financial inconvenience,” MacDonald said. “The world is changing and sometimes I wonder if it is for the better.”

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.