PERRYVILLE BANK BUSINESS BOOMING

PERRYVILLE -- Competition is heating up in Perryville's banking industry, with one local bank expanding and a Farmington-based holding company looking at property in the city.

The Bank of Perryville broke ground Wednesday on a new, two-story building at the corner of Highways 51 and 61. Bank President David Crader said a modular building, which will accept deposits only, should be open there by the end of next week. Completion of the new building is scheduled for October 1997.

After the grand opening, the current Bank of Perryville near the County Courthouse will become a branch.

"Our main new feature will be adequate parking," Crader said. "We will be a full-service bank, able to house our investment bankers, who are currently off the premises."

While the Bank of Perryville builds, First State Bancshares Inc. of Farmington is deciding where to put a new location. President Greg Allen said his company will purchase the Union Planters facility in St. Mary soon, providing a presence near Perry County.

The next step is opening some sort of Perryville location, a step Allen wants to see taken in the next six months. He may start with a modular building, but everything depends on what federal banking regulators have to say.

"There isn't a lot we can do without their approval," Allen said.

When First State Bank opens, there will be six banks in Perryville, a city of 7,500. The others are Bank of Perryville, Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri, Union Planters Bank, Perry County Savings Bank and Chester Savings Bank, a branch of a Chester, Ill., facility.

Allen said there is enough business to go around, and he feels First State can fill a niche as a locally owned, community bank.

Crader said the relatively high number of financial institutions puts the Bank of Perryville in a competitive situation.

"Competition is healthy," he said. "It forces you to get out of the bank and work with your customers. We will be focusing on individual, personal service."

The Perryville banks likely will draw from the entire county, a total population of 14,000, Mayor Bob Miget said. Only Altenburg and Frohna have their own banks.

The boom can be read as an indicator of the healthy economy -- banks don't open or expand in towns where commercial industries aren't thriving.

Other solid figures indicate that Perry County is doing well. Chamber of Commerce Executive Secretary Charlotte Worrell said the September unemployment rate was 2.9 percent, which most experts interpret to mean that everyone who can work or wants to work is doing so.

"We have enjoyed a healthy economy for a number of years," Worrell said. "Our industries are growing and expanding, and we need more people to work and more housing where workers can live. Those issues are being addressed."

Banking Boom

The city of Perryville has four banks and one savings and loan serving a population of 7,500. Another bank is on the way.

1. Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri

2. Perry County Savings Bank

3. Union Planters Bank

4. Chester Savings Bank

5. Bank of Perryville -- A new, two-story bank building will open in October 1997. The downtown bank will become a branch facility.

6. First State Bancshares Inc. plans to open a facility in Perryville by June 1997.