Summit Bancorp, following the lead of other regional banks trying to cut costs and expand the customer pool, plans to open 70 supermarket branches in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
Under an agreement with Pathmark Stores, the branches will be phased in over the next three years. Twenty-five will be opened this year and next, the bank said, and the last 20 will open by the end of 1998.
Fifty of the in-store branches will be in New Jersey, where Princeton- based Summit operates United Jersey Bank and Summit Bank. The rest will be in eastern Pennsylvania, where the $22-billion asset company operates First Valley Bank.
Summit said the supermarket branches will offer a full range of the bank's services, including safe-deposit boxes. Each of the branches, averaging 400 square feet, will have four full-time and four part-time personnel.
The branches will open at 10 a.m. daily and close at 8 p.m. weekdays, 6 on Saturdays, and 4 on Sundays.
Bank analysts were generally positive about the move, noting that it was the first attempt by a regional bank to open supermarket branches in New Jersey.
"Mellon has an agreement with Acme. PNC has an agreement for ATMs in Wa Wa convenience stores. In terms of New Jersey, this is the first announcement I've seen," said Elizabeth Summers of Ryan, Beck & Co.
Twenty-thousand customers visit the average Pathmark store each week, the supermarket chain says.
