Reliabank opened their tenth branch which is located in Colton with their ribbon cutting taking place on Monday, January 3. (Photo/Sara Stadem)

Sara Stadem | Editor

Reliabank in Colton opened their doors to the community last week during their soft opening which was followed up by their Grand Opening this week.
According to Reliabank Marketing Director Reid Johnson, the first week of the soft opening went well. “We opened a lot of new accounts which we are very pleased about,” Johnson said. “We had Reliabankers from other locations come to Colton last week to help out with all of the business.”
Branch Manager Kyle Lamfers also agreed the soft opening had a great turnout. “We had a great response from the community. We are a lot busier than expected, which we loved to see the response from the community in our opening week,” Lamfers said.
This week during the Grand Opening, Reliabank had several events that took place which consisted of free coffee and donuts on Monday, free lunch at the bank on Wednesday and drawings for giveaways on Friday. In addition to those events, Reliabank had their ribbon-cutting on Monday, January 3.
Johnson explained the ribbon-cutting was a success. “We had around 30 people in attendance and members from the Colton City Council and Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce spoke,” Johnson said. He continued, “Our President Josh Hogue, Colton Branch Manager Kyle Lamfers and myself also addressed everyone in attendance. We served donuts and refreshments through the morning as well.”
Colton Mayor Rick Lehman was in attendance at the ribbon-cutting and expressed his excitement for Reliabank coming to Colton. “I just think we had the hometown type feel with the bank that we had in previous years and Reliabank will be able to provide the same feel. They will be more user-friendly with bank needs and consumers unlike a larger bank,” Mayor Lehman said. “We are a small community so a small hometown bank is what will fit here better.”
According to Lehman, he thought the ribbon-cutting went great with a good turnout. “I know there were some Reliabank employees but we also had local community members that just showed up to support the bank; one was even a former city council member and he chose to be there even though not on council anymore,” Lehman said. He continued, “It’s nice to see that the community is taking time to support the bank and it looks like the community is very excited for this bank and Reliabank looked excited to be in there.”
Johnson said, “Reliabank has had a great start to 2022 with the opening of our Colton branch. This project started a little over a year ago for us and we appreciate all of the support we have received from the community throughout this time.” He concluded, “We are proud of the renovations we have made to the interior and exterior of the building and we hope our new customers enjoy the progress.”
Lamfer added, “We continue to see new faces and meet new people. It feels like we are settling in nicely and can’t wait to continue to meet everyone.”
“We look forward to partnering with individuals and businesses alike in the endeavors that help this town the most, whatever those may be,” Lamfer said. He concluded, “We want everyone to know how much we appreciate the warm welcomes we’ve gotten and can’t wait to see where this goes long term!”