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Comerica closing 16 branches in Michigan, one in Battle Creek

Posted at 2:53 PM, Oct 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-19 22:45:41-04

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Comerica Bank is downsizing. The corporate offices announced in July that they were closing dozens of branches nationwide and cutting 800 jobs. Now that plan is being set in motion.

“This is major hit to the financial institution,” said Kara Beer, president of the Battle Creek Area Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a large number of jobs that are being lost throughout the Comerica Plan, and we never want to see loss of jobs by any means.”

The Grand Rapids Business Journal said that two Grand Rapids locations — Breton Road SE and Alpine Avenue NW — and the Montague location in Muskegon County are closing. In total, Comerica said it's closing 40 branches across the country, including 16 here in Michigan. The Battle Creek branch is the only West Michigan office on the list for closure.

“The Urbandale one, while it is one of the ones that’s farther out in Battle Creek, it’s one of the areas that is costly to do business in that location for them,” said Beer during an interview at the Chamber of Commerce office.

In a statement, Comerica said they’re downsizing to save money.  With more and more customers choosing to bank online, fewer physical branches are needed. Shutting them down will allow them to save millions of dollars annually. Beer said locally Comerica will consolidate the Urbandale and Springfield locations and will likely add jobs. Customers won't even notice a difference.

“It is unfortunate with it being only the one branch here in our area,” said Beer. “They can expect the same great service that they get from Comerica. They might have to drive a little bit farther.”