We Break Down Complex Business News to Help You Understand How Money Moves in Chicago and How It Affects You.
Austin Residents have historically lacked Access to Financial Resources Like Banks. But the opening of a pNc Bank Branch, Along With a New Grocery Store, is helping to change that.
IT”S PNC Bank’s First Brick-And-Moretar Location in Chicago Since Opening One in Hyde Park Seven Years Ago.
The Pittsburgh-Based Bank has 117 Branches in the Chicago Area, Acciting to Carlos Abad, PNC’s Senior Vice President of Retail Banking for Chicago and Wisconsin. IT ALSO RUNS MOBILE BRANCE, WHICH STOP AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS THRAGHOUT The South and West Sides and Financial Education.
Acciting to date from Chicago Health Atlas21.9% of adults in austin reported that no one in their Household Held A Checking or Savings Account in 2023 and 2024.
Malcolm Crawford, Executive Director of the Austin African American Business Network Association, Said the Opening of PNC Bank’s Branch and Its Neighbor Forty Fresh Market Money Back Into Austin, As MANY Residents Offens Travel to Oak Park to Shop and Bank.
“We did not have access,” he said. “People had to leave our community. … that doesn’t open in Too many areas on a commercial business distribution, where you don’t have access to a bank.”
The Seeds for the Austin’s Grocery Store Were Planted when Owner Liz Abunaw Couldn’t Find Necesities in the Area.
“The Origin Story of (Forty Acres Fresh Market) HAPPENED CECAUSE I WOUND IN THE NEGHBORHOOD SUNXPECTEDY AND COULDN’T FINT A BANK, A GROCY STORE ALOND A Major Commercial Corridor To Abunaw Said.
Forty Acres Fresh Market Will Host A Joint Grand Opening with PNC Bank, Located Next Door, on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 pm Visitors Will to Enjoy Complementary Snacks from Forty Acres, A Chicago Photo Booth and DJ.
Forty Acres Fresh Market, at 5713 W. Chicago Ave., OpenD Earlier This Month and Is Located Next to PNC Bank.
Forty Acres and PNC, at 5713-17 W. Chicago Ave., Are of Austin’s Soul City Corridor.
The corroror – an area of chicago avenue between austin boulevard and cicero avenue – was designated as a state of cultural distributing earlier this year with the goal of promoting culture and business development.
Residents in Austin Experience Some of the Lowest Levels of Food Access in the City, a 2023 Chicago Sun-Times and Wbez Analysis Found. Areas of Chicago with Higher Percentages of Black Residents-typically the south and west sides-tig to have less Access to Grocery, Particularly Full-Service Stoles Offer Healthy, Diverse Options, Acciting to the Analysis.
Abunaw, Who Ran Forty ACRES SINCE 2017 AS A POP-UP Market and Grocery Delivery Service, Said a Bank was the perfect busines to Occupy the Space Door Because of “Constant Foot Traffic” it provides.
“If i got all my wishes, i would want that tenant to be a complementary business,” she Said. “And the best complementary businesses to a griory store is a bank.”
While MANY BANKING Services Can Be Done Online, there’s Still A High Demand for Physical Bank Branches for Constances, Such As Older Adults, Lower-Incomes Residents and People Living with Disabilities, Accounting to Fed Communities, A Collaboration the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. People Also Need Access to Digital Devices and the Internet to use online banking services, which can be hard to Access for Low-Incom Residents.
“We’ve Had Clients from Other Locations Saying, ‘Thank Goodness You’re here. “So We’re Looking Forward to Actually Being Part of the Revitalization, (with) Financial Education and … To Improve the Community.”
Crawford Said Community Members have WORKED HARD TO BUILD SOUL CITY CORRORID, and the Bank and Grocery Store are aspects of that.
“(We’re) in the midst of a real renaissance that (we) will see the dividends on in just a little while,” he said.