Washington Trust Plans Grocery Branch

Washington Trust Bank could open its first Spokane-area grocery store branch this fall if federal regulators approve, Vice President Lea Werner said Monday.

The full-service office would be placed in the Lincoln Heights Safeway store at E2501 29th, she said.

Another branch just five blocks down at E3008 29th would remain open, she added.

Werner said details of the branch operation have not yet been worked out. Typically, she said, they operate seven days a week with a staff of four or five.

Three Washington Trust branches in the Columbia Basin are in supermarkets, but the Safeway operation would be the first in Spokane, she said.

The bank has 12 Spokane branches.

An Idaho sister institution, Northern States Bank, has a branch in a SuperValue supermarket, Werner said.

, DataTimes