Growth, Consolidation or Both?: Bank branch expansion and contraction in northern Michigan

By Craig Manning

October 2026

Are physical banking locations a fading vestige of a past era, or are they making a comeback after a pandemic-era spike in digital banking? As with most things, it seems the correct answer is somewhere in the middle.

Decline of brick and mortar?

Much has been made in recent years about the decline of brick-and-mortar banking. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the United States lost about 7,500 brick and mortar bank branch locations between 2017 and 2021, bringing the country’s total number of branches to less than a third of what it was in the mid-1980s.

The closures don’t necessarily seem to be slowing down, either. Branchspot, a website that tracks bank branch closures and the emergence of “banking deserts” nationwide, reports that 941 banking branches have closed in the U.S. this year. With 54 branches closing, Michigan has seen the fifth most closures of any state this year.

Consolidation ... and growth

But it’s not just a story of closures. According to Fast Company magazine, JPMorgan Chase – which operates more consumer banking branches than any other bank doing business in the U.S. – has opened more than 1,000 new locations since 2018. PNC, meanwhile, is in the midst of a campaign to build out 300 new branches coast to coast, including more than 50 new locations so far this year. In fact, 2026 will go down as PNC’s “largest single-year branch expansion effort in its history,” the company reports.

The true story of banking in 2026, it turns out, is one of both consolidation and growth. Per Fast Company, Chase ended 2025 with 5,083 branches, only 48 more than it had in 2018. In other words, the same period that saw Chase open hundreds of new branches also saw the bank closing hundreds of others.

Fifth Third: a case in point

The same trend is playing out in Traverse City. Case-in-point is Fifth Third Bank. In a letter sent to local customers in June, Fifth Third announced plans to close its downtown Traverse City outpost, located in the iconic clock tower building at 102 West Front St. That long-running branch will close its doors for good at 4pm on October 19.

The new Fifth Third Bank financial center, under construction on South Airport.

102 West Front is not the first local Fifth Third Bank branch to close in recent years. The Cincinnati-based banking giant shut down its location on East Eighth Street several years ago and the building was later converted into a private residence. Then, last fall, Fifth Third demolished its branch at 3535 South Airport Rd. – with the caveat that it planned to build a new “financial center” in its place.

More broadly, Fifth Third announced in May that it would be shutting down 75 branch locations throughout the state of Michigan, following the company’s acquisition of Comerica Bank. It’s the type of announcement that has become common from major banking companies in recent years. In July, for instance, Huntington Bank announced plans to shutter 13 branches across Michigan, including one on 14th Street in Traverse City. Huntington still has multiple other TC locations.

Despite the trend of closures, Shawn Niehaus, Fifth Third’s head of consumer banking, insists Fifth Third is still very much invested in the northern Michigan market.

“Our new Traverse City financial center is a significant investment in the region and a reflection of our long-term commitment to this community,” Niehaus said. “By bringing our teams and clients together in a modern, purpose-built space, we're delivering the convenience and experience customers expect today while continuing to grow right here alongside them.”

According to a Fifth Third spokesperson, the bank’s new 4,800 square-foot, $6 million financial center on South Airport is “one of the largest branch prototypes currently being built by the bank” anywhere in the country. The new branch is slated to open October 20. Until then, Fifth Third is serving customers from the South Airport location at a temporary branch located at 3500 Marketplace Circle, near the Buffalo Ridge Shopping Center.

The consolidation will leave just two proper Fifth Third Bank branches in Traverse City. The other, located at the base of Holiday Hills, will “remain unchanged,” per Fifth Third’s spokesperson.

Nicolet Bank making local headlines 

Nicolet Bank, a newer entrant into the Traverse City financial scene, is currently looking to execute a similar consolidation of its local presence. The Wisconsin-based company added Traverse City to its territory list following its 2021 acquisition of Mackinac Financial Corporation, as well as the wholly-owned subsidiary mBank. Nicolet now has two branch locations in TC: one at City Centre Plaza on State Street, the other on North Country Drive near Cracker Barrel.

Nicolet Bank's Country Drive location in Traverse City, one of two local branches slated to consolidate into the bank's planned new construction project on East Front Street.

Nicolet made its biggest local headlines yet this summer when news broke that the bank was planning to buy three parcels on East Front Street, next to the former Burger King site. Nicolet will still need to go through a special land use permit review process with the City of Traverse City, a requirement on the recently rezoned properties for drive-thru projects. If all goes according to plan, Nicolet President/CEO Mike Daniels says the bank will consolidate its Traverse City operations to that single location.

“We’re doing something similar to what we did in Wasau, Wisconsin, where we had two locations that weren't ideal and we built a nice building that has better access for our customers and our employees,” Daniels told the TCBN. “At our downtown Traverse City location, there’s no drive-thru, which is an issue. There are days when our downtown customers don’t want to park someplace, get out of their car, and walk to their bank. And then our (North Country Drive) branch is cleverly hidden, in that no one can ever seem to find it. This new one will provide a better customer experience, we’ll have the ability to have the drive-thru, and we’ll be closer to commerce and to our customer base in what is a traditional bank setting. It will be better for servicing our customers the way they want to be served.”

Daniels expects Nicolet Bank will have a firm design plan for the East Front Street location in the next month or two, after which the company will go through the permitting process with the city.

“In a perfect world, we'd like to be in there by late next year. But with the way construction goes nowadays, who knows?” he said.

Daniels

The big picture

Asked about broader trends in bank branch growth and consolidation, Daniels says the numbers of openings and closures don’t always tell the whole story. Many banks, he explains, are reorienting their focus to big, proven markets – and away from mid-sized cities and small towns.

“Right now, you’ll see the big guys are putting up a lot of branches, but what they're doing is they're disinvesting in smaller communities,” Daniels explained. “They might still have their branches in those places, but those branches may not have the commercial banking talent they used to, or they may not have wealth management people anymore. I think Chase is putting up 3,000 branches, but they're mostly in California and Nashville and Texas and places like that.”

Not that Daniels expects Traverse City to become a banking desert.

“We try to serve a lot of smaller communities – like Cheboygan or Lewiston or Alpena in Michigan, or Appleton, Oshkosh, Wausau, Stevens Point, Eau Claire in Wisconsin – because we feel we can really matter in communities of those sizes,” Daniels said. “But Traverse City is interesting, because the big guys still like it a lot, too.”

Pictured above: Fifth Third's iconic downtown location will close this month.