Citizens Bank Closing Star Market Branch On Trapelo Road In January ’25

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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.

TD Bank To Close Its Trapelo Road Branch As Business Wains Across State

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Photo: The TD Bank branch on Trapelo Road (credit: Google map)

A decade ago when banks were only too happy to locate a beachhead in Belmont, one local wag said at a Selectman meeting that the town’s unofficial motto should be changed to “The Town of Bank Branches.”

However, due to bank customers’ changing preferences and financial institutions pushing account holders to online transactions, the day of branches is on the wane. Belmont will soon lose another brick-and-mortar retail operation as TD Bank will close its branch at 307 Trapelo Rd., adjacent to the Belmont Fire Department headquarters. 

The Belmont location’s – along with six others statewide – final day will be Sept. 20. Recently, Bank of America closed its Belmont Center branch. The nearest TD Bank branch to Belmont is at 235 Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge.

According to a report in the Boston Business Journal, the closures are due to a significant drop in deposits in the state and nationwide.

“The bank regularly evaluates its physical store network and looks for opportunities to better align our network of stores to best serve our customers through an optimal mix of convenient TD Bank locations and digital banking products and services,” the bank said in a statement, according to the BBJ. The bank has 128 branches across the Bay State.

“TD Bank [is] committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for our impacted customers and look forward to continuing to provide legendary service through any channel our customers choose, including at any of our … locations in Massachusetts.”