Heathmont’s Bendigo Bank branch will close on June 30, 2021. Picture: Google Street View.
Two major services are shutting up shop in a small suburb in Melbourne’s outer east, leaving its main shopping strip without a bank branch.
Bendigo Bank will close its branch on Canterbury Rd at Heathmont Village on June 30 after 11 years of trading.
It will close after the board of the bank’s three Maroondah-based branches decided to merge its Heathmont and Ringwood East services.
The bank’s Heathmont staff will move to the Ringwood East branch on Railway Ave, and the board has vowed to further invest in the branch’s services, which include a meeting room for community groups and a cafe.
Bendigo Bank spokesman Simon Fitzgerald said the board made the decision following a review of customer banking habits and visitor numbers, and to “ensure a sustainable operation that supports the wider community continues to be provided”.
The bank also opened a Croydon branch on Kent Ave in February.
“The decision will enable the Community Bank company to maintain its ongoing support to the wider community and continue to return profits,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“The Community Bank company will continue to support local initiatives and community groups throughout the district as it has always done, and the commitment to support community-determined projects in Heathmont and surrounds will not change”.
Meanwhile, the longstanding 7-Eleven on the corner of Campbell St and Canterbury Rd is also closing for good.
The store did not offer petrol and was a stand-alone food outlet, and is opposite Heathmont railway station and the site of a contentious planned multistorey commuter carpark.
A 7-Eleven spokesman could not give the store’s closing date but said it would shut “soon”, likely in the next one to two months.
The spokesman said the chain had no plans to open another store nearby.
“Our store network is constantly changing and stores may close from time to time for a variety of reasons,” he said.
Extracted in full from: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/outer-east/heathmont-bendigo-bank-branch-7eleven-store-to-shut-for-good/news-story/df293d311d2fb7dab6f8364e43f0367b
