Cambria's Bank of America branch to close in November

The Cambria branch of Bank of America is scheduled to close Nov. 16, a bank representative confirmed Wednesday.

Company spokeswoman Colleen Haggerty said no other Bank of America branches in San Luis Obispo County are on the closure list at this time.

The growing use of such services as banking by Internet, smartphone and ATM contributed to the branch’s closure.

Bank of America has been cutting costs by closing branches and cutting staff. The Los Angeles Times reported in September that the bank was set to shutter 10 percent of its branches and cut at least 40,000 jobs, about one in six of its nearly 300,000-person workforce.

Haggerty declined to say how many employees work at the bank branch, saying, “We do not make public the number of employees at any site.”

Inquiries by The Tribune determined that there are five employees at the bank, all of whom expect to be transferred to other Bank of America locations within the county.

The bank’s Cambria ATM will remain active on the west side of the bank building at 2255 Main St., according to Haggerty, offering “account services such as deposits, withdrawals, transfers and balance availability.”

The next nearest branch is at 390 Morro Bay Blvd., in Morro Bay.

Allan MacKinnon, president of the Cambria Community Services District Board of Directors, said in response to the news that the pending closure “shows the state of our little economy in our little town. It’s really disappointing for Cambria. But fortunately, we still have two other banks in town.”

Cambria Historical Society records show that the 18-year-old Bank of Cambria opened on Oct. 6, 1928, in a new brick structure at Bridge and Main streets. That bank closed on Feb. 16, 1933, during the “bank holiday” of the Great Depression. The bank’s assets and property were later acquired by the Bank of Italy, now known as the Bank of America. In 1979, the bank built the new building a few yards west.

This story was originally published July 11, 2012 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Cambria's Bank of America branch to close in November."