It’s a confusing time to be a customer in the U.S.
Many of us are still reeling from what has happened over the past five years.
Five years ago, in 2020, the world essentially sputtered to a halt as a global pandemic shuttered local businesses and sent the markets into a free fall.
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And while most of us have adapted to some new changes, plenty of retailers are still reeling from it all.
Take, for example, our changing habits.
It may not feel like we’ve adapted our habits now that most of us venture out into public mask-free and haven’t given social distancing a second thought in years. But plenty of us still prefer to shop online now, which is a substantial shift from pre-2020.
Many U.S. consumers now prefer to get our groceries, apparel, and even banking or healthcare online now. And it’s all possible thanks to the advancements in technology from companies like Peloton, Amazon, Teladoc, and more.
TD Bank is closing branches.
Consumer taste is shifting
It’s been difficult for many retailers to keep up with changing consumer tastes.
Amazon and Walmart, for example, were primed for an easier time. Amazon has always been an online-first business, and Walmart has a massive footprint across the U.S., which allowed it to scale up its stores as online fulfillment and distribution centers rapidly when most of us began shopping more online.
But this isn’t the case for everyone.
Plenty of smaller mom-and-pop businesses or mall retailers, which rely heavily on in-person shoppers and elevated foot traffic, have struggled.
TD Bank closing dozens of locations
Banks have struggled, too.
One such bank is TD Bank, which was involved in a money laundering controversy in 2024 and was fined $3 billion by U.S. authorities.
As more people prefer to do their banking online, the need for many bank branches on every street corner has become obsolete.
And now, TD Bank is announcing it will shutter 38 locations in the coming months.
Six of those locations will be in Massachusetts alone, including:
860 South Main St., Bradford, MA 01835465 North Main St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028420 Franklin St., Framingham, MA 0170250 Holyoke St., Holyoke, MA 01040547 Broadway, Methuen, MA 018442345 Main St., Tewksbury, MA 01876
“As we evaluate how customers interact with us and the channels they use, this includes examining our physical store network and looking for opportunities to best serve our customers through an optimal mix of convenient TD Bank locations and digital banking products and services,” TD Bank said in a statement.
TD Bank is the 10th largest bank in the U.S. Its Massachusetts branches are slotted to close by June 5.
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