VIDEO: Wallace's last bank set to close

WALLACE — It was a little over a week ago that customers of the Wallace branch of US Bank received notification that the office in the heart of downtown Wallace would be closing shortly after the beginning of the new year.

While significant for many reasons, the closing of the bank represents the closure of the final standing financial institution in the seat of Shoshone County.

Most of the customers received notice via letter or email, and while it may have come as a bomb to many of them, it was also a sudden shock to the branch’s employees (including management) — who were told just two days before the customers were.

The reason for the closure is up for interpretation, but the statement that all of the Wallace branch’s customer received read as follows:

“Customers’ banking preferences and behaviors are changing, influencing how and where we operate. As a result, we are consolidating some of our physical locations. The US Bank Wallace branch at 528 Cedar St, Wallace, ID will be closing on January 27, 2022.”

In an interview with KREM 2, city of Wallace Mayor Lynn Mogensen said she felt devastation while reading her letter.

"How welcoming is it to come into a town and not have any money and not be able to find an ATM?" Mogensen said.

She's not the only one upset by the news. Wallace City Council President Dean Cooper has several businesses in the community, including co-ownership of the Wallace Brewing Company.

"Right away, you go to the big picture: what the impact's going to be on the town. You know, the financial institution is the anchor no matter what. All of the businesses and people in town are relying on that, especially when we're down to one bank,” Cooper said.

With the rise of online banking, physical locations are growing more and more obsolete. For towns like Wallace though, where internet reliability is suspect and a higher percentage of the populace is closer to retirement than those who are not, this closure is devastating.

Wallace Chamber of Commerce Director Dave Copelan said he is upset by the impending closure and can’t wrap his head around the decision to close this branch, when there are so many positives attached to having it.

“This action occurs despite a thriving economic climate with dozens of new and expanding businesses, a red hot real estate market, strong performance in area mines and international media attention on the area as a tourism destination,” Copelan said. “This closure will place unnecessary hardship on our business community, local government and the multitude of senior citizens and other townsfolk who prefer the convenience of in-person banking.”

For the Wallace branch’s approximately 1,600 customers, they now have to determine whether or not to keep their accounts with US Bank and then drive to Pinehurst if they want to interact within a physical location, or utilize the new US Bank automatic teller machine (ATM) that was recently installed in the parking lot at Walmart in Smelterville.

The Wallace branch serves not only Wallace, but also folks and businesses in Silverton, Mullan, and even across the Montana border — which means those who reside near Mullan or even further will require anywhere from a 48 to 60-plus-mile round trip to visit their “local” US Bank branch in Pinehurst.

Located right on Wallace’s famed Sixth and Cedar intersections, the building itself, which has living quarters on the upper floors, is massive and almost literally the center of the town.

Which has been speculated to be one of the reasons why the branch is closing down.

Some locals and city officials have begun the process of trying to get US Bank to reconsider, while others have started looking for another bank to fill the space — a strategy that the bank’s employees believe could be advantageous.

“I hear they’re trying to get another bank to move in which would be great, this is a huge opportunity,” one of the bank’s employees said. “The chamber is absolutely right, it’s booming out here, the tourist season we just had was insane — our ATM was so busy that we could barely keep up with it. It’s the central ATM in town, and if they sell the building then the ATM is likely going away too.”

Only one position at the Pinehurst branch will be available for a transfer, which means that all of the other employees of the Wallace branch are going to be out of a job come Jan. 28.

The Shoshone News-Press will continue to monitor this ongoing story.

KREM 2 NEWS' Cody Proctor contributed to this article. KREM 2 News is a Hagadone News Network partner. For more from our news partner, click here.