COVID-19 Leads To Three Vacant Bank Buildings In The Alleghany Highlands

Main Street in Covington and Main Street in Clifton Forge each have a vacant bank building in a prominent location.

Wells Fargo has closed its doors across the street from the US Post Office in Covington, and a “For Sale Sign” is posted on its front.

COVID-19 brought about shutdowns, and many people changed their banking habits, many going online to bank.

The Primis Bank in Clifton Forge has closed its doors, and its fountain which had been repaired recently is no longer in operation as a bright spot across Main St. from The Historic Masonic Theatre.

Farther east on Main St. across from the Kroger Store, Truist Bank remains empty following the merger between BB&T and Sun Trust that formed Truist. The $66 billion merger left the Covington bank operating under the new name, Truist.

Because customers can complete most of their bank transactions digitally, the necessity of physically visiting a bank has been reduced, leading to 511 bank closings since 2009 and the closing of many banks’ lobbies since COVID-19 discouraged people from entering public places.

Even before COVID-19 discouraged face-to-face transactions, the trend for bank closings continued to rise due the use of the internet to bank online from home or the office.

Since brick-and-mortar structures are more expensive to build, operate and maintain, many banks adapted to the trend by selling their buildings and by closing branches that were less profitable, realizing that providing online banking is far less expensive.

The FDIC reported that roughly 200 bank branches per month closed their operations in 2022.