Chairman and CEO Jim McKenna and branch manager Alfredo Martin cut the ribbon to officially open the renovated El Rey branch, while employees including Paulina Garcia, teller Ashley Rodriguez, teller supervisor Lupe Barbosa, personal banker Karina Reyes, teller Efren Martinez, assistant branch manager Maria Castro, and teller Fabiola Guel assist.

The El Rey branch debuted major renovations earlier this month, including a new exterior and an updated open-concept lobby with technology to make services more convenient for North Shore Bank customers.

The work began in June, branch manager Alfredo Martin said.

The old branch exterior inside the grocery store.

“It was great to see the progress on a daily basis,” he said. “Our enthusiasm overcame any impact on our daily work activities, and the eagerness to see the end of the project made it fun and interesting.”

The 15-year-old branch is inside El Rey Food Mart and is fully staffed by a bilingual team of bankers. The branch marked the renovations with a weeklong celebration from Monday, November 11, to Saturday, November 16, which included a drive for canned goods for the Milwaukee Christian Food Pantry and a blessing and ribbon cutting that Tuesday.

The newly renovated exterior.

Alfredo said the most exciting change is how the open lobby will let his team offer more personalized service, and how customers will be able to use phones or tablets to perform some transactions more quickly.

“So far we have received a lot of positive feedback from many customers,” he said. “I’ve thanked all our North Shore Bank management for providing us a great environment to work and assist our customers with any financial need.”