Harlem Adds a Rare HSBC to it's Bank Collection
Kinda like getting Ventnor Avenue when collecting all of the Monopoly properties in the McDonald's game (rare, but not that rare), South Harlem will soon get a fully functioning HSBC at 112th and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. For those who want a taste of what is to come, the ATM's are open.
I see HSBC's all over Midtown, but noticed a lack of them A96. However, given the laws of probability, it would only be so long before something other than an Aphrodite open along Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and chances were good it would be a bank or drug store.
Comments
I'm actually rather psyched about it, given that I live down the block and happen to be an HSBC customer already. Have you actually used the ATMs yet?
Posted by: Pete | August 1, 2008 02:33 PM
um, okay. I'm kinda' all banked out, if you know what I mean. It was cool at first but now it is sorta' overkill. Like, ice cream --- again!
Posted by: Anonymous | August 1, 2008 02:43 PM
Do you really think there are that many banks along FDB? HSBC on 112th, WaMu at 116th, Chase around 118th -- seems pretty reasonable to me.
If you want something different, open a store! I'll be among your first customers. There's a good bit of retail space coming on line in the area...
Posted by: Pete | August 1, 2008 03:00 PM
Is the guy on the left wearing a headband?
Posted by: MMP Brownstoner | August 3, 2008 01:50 PM
Uh Oh....is having a branch in Harlem going to pull them out?
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/hsbc-profit-slides-29-bad-debt/story.aspx?guid=%7BCD21FAB1%2DBEB8%2D4DDE%2DA3EF%2DA0E64F91AAF6%7D&dist=TNMostRead
Posted by: Anonymous | August 4, 2008 03:29 PM
HSBC's financial issues have more to do with their ill-advised Household International merger and associated subprime mortgage loans than anything else. As far as retail banking is concerned, I doubt they're doing any worse than any of the others.
If there is a slowdown or pullback in branches, I would expect to see it first among banks that are over-extended and in neighborhoods that have too many banks (think Starbucks). Branches in relatively underserved areas like Harlem are likely to do better, actually.
Add to that incentives branches in Harlem get for operating in a "banking development district," and I think it's not going to be the first to close.
Posted by: Pete | August 7, 2008 12:44 PM