The former Friendly’s restaurant in Palmer Township, known for its ice cream scoops, will soon be scooping out financial information.
Fulton Bank is closing two branches in Palmer to consolidate into one township location in the former Friendly’s at William Penn Plaza, which has been closed since 2022. The new branch at 3099 William Penn Highway is scheduled to open Jan. 26, Fulton spokesperson Rachel Sharkey said. The current sites will be closing Jan. 23.
Craig S. Beavers, the township’s planning director, said the bank is closing branches at 4001 William Penn Highway, about one-half mile from the current William Penn branch, and the 25th Street Shopping Center, and renovating the former Friendly’s.
Beavers said the building footprint will be identical, with some new pavement and a bank drive-thru, and it will be near a LANTA bus stop.
Sharkey said in an email the branch at 4001 William Penn Highway was sold in August. Northampton County property records show the branch was sold to a limited liability corporation with a Doylestown mailing address. The LLC could not be reached for comment.
The 25th Street branch is working on securing a new tenant, according to commercial Realtor James Balliett, who represents the property owner 25th Street Plaza LLC.
The Palmer Friendly’s closing in 2022, combined with two Friendly’s restaurants that shuttered in Lehigh County since 2018, has left the restaurant chain with one Valley location, in Upper Macungie Township.
It is unclear when Friendly’s in Palmer first opened, but the chain, which was founded in 1935 selling ice cream, had grown to 500 restaurants by the mid-1970s in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
The Palmer restaurant was destroyed in a fire in June 2004, but owners rebuilt it.
The branch change means Fulton will have 12 retail locations in Lehigh and Northampton counties. It has 16 in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Warren County, New Jersey, ranking it fourth in deposit market share among banks. That’s according to the latest information from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
“This new site will offer a larger, more modern facility and is conveniently located ensuring easy access for our customers,” Sharkey said, when asked why Fulton decided to consolidate branches. “Changes like this enable us to use our resources efficiently and reinvest in products and services that meet our customers’ evolving financial needs.”
Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.