U.S. Bank To Open 40 New Branch @ Safeway Stores.

U.S. Bank will open 40 branches at Safeway stores in the Phoenix area by summer 2004, which will bring approximately 250 new jobs to the market. The first seven new U.S. Bank locations will open on Monday, Nov. 10 at 10 a.m.; one will open at 520 West Osborn Road in Phoenix on Monday, Nov. 24. In addition, all U.S. Bank traditional and in-store branches in Arizona will be open seven days-a-week starting Monday, Nov. 10. U.S. Bank will be the only bank in Arizona with all of its in-store and traditional branches open seven-days-a-week.

“U.S. Bank’s growth in the Phoenix area will allow our customers greater convenience,” said Amy Hurd, regional manager for in-store banking at U.S. Bank in Arizona. “The new U.S. Bank branches in Safeway stores will offer a full range of services. In addition to opening checking accounts, customers can conveniently transact business on savings, CDs, IRAs and other investment opportunities, or get a loan for a car, mortgage, boat, home improvement or debt consolidation. Each location will also have a full-service U.S. Bank ATM. We look forward to seeing our customers and meeting new ones. Stop by and see us.”

In addition to the eight Phoenix area locations, U.S. Bank will open 17 in-store branches at Safeway stores in California and seven in the Las Vegas area on Nov. 10 and Nov. 24.

In September, U.S. Bank and Safeway announced plans to open 163 new in-store branches in Safeway and Vons stores in Arizona, California and Nevada over the next two years. This will be the largest in-store expansion and partnership venture in U.S. Bancorp’s 140-year history. U.S. Bank has the third-largest in-store branch-banking network in the United States and will have a total of 446 in-store branches in 19 states once the Safeway/Vons expansion is completed. (Vons is a division of Safeway Inc.)

U.S. Bank will open 119 of the total 163 in-store branches inside Safeway locations in Sacramento, the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix and Tucson. U.S. Bank will open the remaining 44 new in-store locations inside Vons stores in the Los Angles/Orange/Riverside County region, San Diego and Las Vegas. Currently, U.S. Bank has branches in all of these markets except for Tucson, where this will be U.S. Bank’s introduction to that city. The Tucson in-store branches will open up during the latter half of 2004.