Yesterday, The Dutch SNS Bank opened the first of its ‘SNS Shops’ in Haarlem, the Netherlands. All 150 SNS branch offices are to be replaced by 300 SNS Shops in the span of a couple of years.

The SNS Shops are primarily geared towards offering information and do not provide the possibility to deposit or withdraw money. This is a deliberate decision, as setting up the infrastructure to handle cash money has become increasingly expensive, while less and less people make use of this service.

Instead, the SNS Shop is presented as a very open and easily accessible place that you can pop into to get advice, buy a product or get help with online banking. And with opening hours extending into evenings and weekends, and twice as many SNS Shops planned as there are branch offices, accessibility is further increased.

Franchise
To enable the swift transformation the SNS seeks to franchise a large part of their SNS Shops. The franchisee of a shop would not only get a cut from all products purchased in that shop, but also all products purchased online from within that area. The bank is at least the first in the Netherlands to set up this unique structure.

While the attempt to increase accessibility, in an age where most banks are closing down offices, is certainly applaudable, one has to wonder at the decision to make the shops cash-less. What is your opinion?