Photo: The Citizens Bank branch inside the Star Market located at 535 Trapelo Rd.

For the past two decades, it appeared that banks couldn’t open enough branches in Belmont, so much so that residents and town officials worried that the storefront under renovation would soon be scooped by yet another financial institution was coming to the Town of Homes.

That’s not the case in 2024.

This week, Citizens Financial Group, Inc., the parent company of retail banking giant Citizens Bank, announced it will be closing its bank branch located in Star Market at 535 Trapelo Rd., one of 15 branches shutting down in the next months.

“We’ve been on a journey at Citizens to evolve how our customers bank with us, and we continually review customer patterns to evolve and adjust branch strategy across our network,” the bank said in a press release.

Citizens Bank is the second bank this year to announce it is closing a Belmont branch office. This summer, TD Bank shut its brink and mortar operation adjacent to the Belmont Fire Department Headquarters at 307 Trapelo Rd.

The closures come as banks turn away from the traditional retail banking structure of tellers and loan officers and towards on-line operations.