After more than a century in Sarnia’s downtown, Scotiabank says it plans to close its Christina Street branch at the end of June.
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to relocate our services at our branch at 169 Christina St. N, Sarnia, to our branch at 560 Exmouth St.,” Scotiabank spokesperson Valerie Huang said in an e-mail.
“We feel that this relocation will help us provide continued service and greater resources to our customers,” Huang said.
The move is scheduled for June 28 when customer accounts and safety deposit boxes will be moved to Exmouth Street, the bank said.
“Our teams in both Christina Street and Exmouth Street are committed to assisting all customers with any questions they may have,” Huang said.
Scotiabank also has branches on Indian Road and in Bright’s Grove.
Its move out of downtown follows the closing of branches there in recent years by CIBC, the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank.
In 2020, Scotiabank marked a century of being part of Sarnia’s downtown by inviting the public in for cake and refreshments.
The bank’s first location opened on March 15, 1920, in space leased in the Vendome Hotel building at the corner of Front and Cromwell streets, with a staff that included manager CMC Brunton and two others.
“Our own situation has the advantage of being at the point where the greatest amount of pedestrian traffic concentrates,” Brunton wrote in a letter to a bank official. “As a consequence, our location will be our best advertisement.”
The Bank of Nova Scotia itself dates back to 1832 when it received its charter approximately a year after a group of business owners met in a Halifax coffee house to talk about the need for a public bank in that city. The bank later expanded across Canada and around the world.
In about 1930, the downtown Sarnia branch moved to a new location at 195 Christina St., N., which a bank inspector’s report described as “bright and attractive.” That location was remodeled and expanded in 1949, and the number of branch employees grew to 11 that year.
When a tornado hit Sarnia in May 1953, many downtown buildings were damaged. While only two windows were broken in the bank branch, part of the roof of its building was damaged and the brick wall above the entrance was loose.
The building was condemned the following day, so the bank was forced to close for a short period.
In 1961, the branch relocated to 179 Christina St., and an open house was estimated to have been attended by 4,500 people, according to a history provided by Scotiabank.
By 1967, the branch staff had grown to 22 employees.
The branch changed its address to 169 Christina St. in the late 1980s. It had a staff of 11 in 2020.