Airway Heights INB opening new building in December

By CARA LORELLO

Staff Reporter

For 15 years, customers at Airway Heights Yoke's Foods who bank with Inland Northwest Bank have enjoyed the convenience of doing their grocery shopping and money transactions in one trip.

That's about to change now that INB is looking to open a freestanding, full service facility less than a mile away, scheduled to open Dec. 1.

Clients may not be able to purchase milk and eggs when they make the trip to the bank anymore, but what they'll get in exchange is a three-lane drive thru, 24-hour ATM and night deposit box, a bigger lobby with sitting room, and quite a bit more once this new facility, currently under construction at 119 West Sunset Highway, opens.

It's an upgrade branch manager and INB vice president Janet Dibler said has been in the works for some time, but a search for the perfect piece of property prevented it from happening sooner.

That's not to say INB hasn't enjoyed great success working out of Yoke's all these years, she added.

“The entire West Plains has treated us very well here, and we plan to offer the same great hours, plus all the amenities at our new location,” Dibler said.

Community-owned and founded in 1989, INB expanded from its original Main Street branch in downtown Spokane and now runs 10 branches between Washington and Idaho, making it the first state-chartered bank in the nation with a dual state franchise.

Airway Heights was INB's third branch to open, and over the last year has gone from being the one bank in town, to being one of four. The new banks arriving over the last year and a half came with drive-thru windows, and other 24-hour amenities afforded to a freestanding facility that today's clients expect from their financial institution. INB CEO Randy Fewel said it was a desire to offer these amenities, and other factors, that encouraged the branch's move.

“When Yoke's started closing its doors at midnight, we did loose a few accounts that did night deposits after hours,” Fewel said, adding that drive-thrus account for about 60 percent of all transactions at INB branches that have them. A growing number of people now use online banking features, available 24 hours a day.

Still, Fewel added, some customers prefer the social interactive aspect of in-person banking. The new 5,500-squre foot branch building will have customers switching from forming lines in Yoke's standing lobby to one with lots of seating, a fireplace and big screen TV. Like the current branch, it will have three individual teller stations, and one new account desk. Two tellers will man the three-lane drive-thru, with a fourth lane allocated to the 24-hour ATM.

One of the more interesting features, Dibler added, is the addition of a secured, 650-square-foot community room available to any local group or organizations needing a place hold functions, free of charge.

It's the bank's way of saying “thank-you” to the neighborhood that's supported it from day one, Dibler said.

“We've been here 15 years as the only bank in town, and in that time the community's really embraced us,” Dibler said. “Our customers in the community tell me they're so excited they'll have a community room available to them, and [the branch] won't even have to be open if they want to use it.”

The community room will feature a plasma TV and moveable modular units for a maximum occupancy of 30.

The bank will extend its weekly hours with the drive-thru open Monday thru Friday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the lobby from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday hours are drive-thru only, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For further information on the move, contact the INB Yoke's branch during business hours (Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at (509) 244-4840.

Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected].