The Humboldt Park branch of Popular Community Bank sits at the corner of Pulaski Road and North Avenue in Chicago, a rare new building in a hard-worn corridor on the city's northwest side. The 3,800-square-foot space is surrounded by discount stores, used car dealerships, taquerias and nonprofit service offices set up to minister to ample ranks of the neighborhood's down and out.
Despite the gritty surroundings, this location marks a sweet spot for a Puerto Rico-based company that has staked it U.S. presence on intertwining with the urban fabric of cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, where its outposts are a natural part of the landscape.
A little more than a year ago, Banco Popular chose Illinois to begin a rebranding campaign, renaming itself Popular Community Bank—with the "Popular" pronounced in English, not with a Spanish accent—to broaden the firm's appeal beyond its core Hispanic demographic, and to capitalize on the relatively good name of community banks. "The name that tested best was the name that included community in it," says Manuel Chinea, senior vice president of Banco Popular's U.S. retail banking operations. "Community banks still have a positive image."
Branches in California and Florida took on the new name in August; the bank is still deciding whether to rename its Banco Popular branches in New York.
Here in Humboldt Park, at Banco Popular's largest Chicago location, manager Josephine Pacheco proves her branch worthy of having "community" in its name. She grew up in this working-class neighborhood, which is peppered with brick duplexes and subdivided houses where many new immigrants reside. She gives freely of her time to the community and to loyal customers, many who know her by name, and her office is adorned with plaques from the likes of Neighborhood Housing Services and the Chicago Dream Center.
Humboldt Park, still largely Hispanic, also is home to a significant African-American population. The densely populated area presses up against the hipper neighborhoods of Logan Square and Wicker Park, and the bank branch has been making headway in attracting clients from these fast-gentrifying areas.
"We have a really good mixture," Pacheco says of the ethnic and economic diversity of nearly 7,000 retail and commercial customers. "It's a big base."
On a rainy day in October, Maggie Martinez, a longtime activist who runs a community group called the Block Club Federation, walks into Pacheco's office, sits down and starts talking. The topics discussed include fundraising, meal choices for afterschool programs and brushes with former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Pacheco listens to all of it with rapt attention, as she has during previous visits. "When I come to this little bank, I feel like I know everybody," Martinez says.
The bank's new, Anglicized name is perhaps getting good traction in some markets, like the Koreatown section of Los Angeles. But in Humboldt Park, the rebranding effort often goes unnoticed. Pacheco jokes that locals still refer to "Popular," a truncated moniker (with a "u" that sounds more like "ooh" than "you," and an accent on the "lar") that many have used since the bank first entered the United States in 1961.
According to Chinea, Banco Popular's Popular Community Bank branches in Illinois are slowly adding more non-Hispanic customers without alienating old timers. "People are responsive and willing to make the switch," Chinea says. The trend has been helped along by technology upgrades meant to help the bank's 94 U.S. branches keep up with larger rivals.
"The big banks are lacking," says customer Juanita Parrales, who recently took over her father's restaurant, Taqueria Huentitan. The bank's staff can often be spotted there, she says, mixing with teens, shift workers and beat cops ordering tacos, guacamole, flan and café de olla, a coffee flavored with cinnamon.
The branch inherited Huentitan and other neighborhood institutions such as Roeser's Bakery and Edward Andersen Funeral Home when it acquired Pioneer Bank in 1994, initially staking claim to the neighborhood in Pioneer's historic building across the street from the newer facility it has occupied since 2008.
Against the backdrop of the recent economic downturn, which has been relentless on neighborhoods such as Humboldt Park, Pacheco has managed to pick up net new accounts each year. That's likely due in no small part to outreach efforts by her and her staff, whether teaching young parents how to balance a checkbook or helping homeowners avoid foreclosure by renegotiating loans.
"The last two years have been a little tough," Pacheco says. "We're really active and known in our community so that also helps."
