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Capital One Financial Corp. has closed four Austin locations and relaunched its downtown flagship in the mold of its new branded Capital Café.
In 2016, Capital One announced it would spend $150M to close and renovate branches. Austin's Downtown Capital One, on Congress Avenue at Sixth Street in the ground floor of the Littlefield Building, will be one of two Capital Café locations in the city. The other hybrid bank and coffee shop will be at Domain Northside.
The Capital Café model will allow customers to get help with their accounts, learn about financial tools or simply grab a cup of Peet's coffee, spokeswoman Kate Licht said. The bank also is increasing its number of deposit-taking ATM locations in Austin by adding Capital One ATMs to many Austin-area Target locations.
Licht said the closure of four branches — Mueller, North Lamar, Slaughter and West Bee Caves Road — was a decision Capital One did not take lightly. Capital One is evolving in response to the growing number of people who primarily bank digitally, she said.
Last year rumors circulated that Amazon might consider buying Capital One, a rumor American Banker labeled fun to consider, but unlikely given the firm wall between commerce and banking. Such a move would have given Amazon tremendous insight into the buying trends of American consumers.
The Domain Northside Capital Café should be opening in the next couple of months.
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