Rockford Community Bank opens its third branch in three years. A fourth may be on the horizon

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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MACHESNEY PARK — Rockford Community Bank on Tuesday celebrated its latest expansion into the region, cutting the ribbon on its third branch in three years. It sees at least one more in its future.

The bank and The Parks Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the branch at 7005 N. Perryville Road, which is at the northeast corner of Perryville and Illinois 173. The celebration comes about two-and-a-half months after it cut the ribbon on its second branch at 2219 E. State St. in Rockford.

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Brent Scott, president of Rockford Community Bank, said there aren’t specific plans for a fourth location, but they’ve started those talks with an eye toward 2026.

“We’ll do another one east of here,” Scott said. “We want to digest the two new ones — well, they’re all new — the two really new ones, and then we’ll look at a fourth location … That might cover the market that we’re in.”

Rockford Community Bank, which is part of the Wintrust financial corporation, opened its first personal banking branch in Rockford at 1825 N. Perryville Road in January 2022. It followed that by renovating the former Illinois Decorator Center on East State Street in late 2024 for its second branch.

The newest branch is a 4,300-square-foot building with a similar design to its initial Rockford bank. It’s in a key location in Machesney Park’s growth corridor, Mayor Steve Johnson said. Both he and Rockford Community Bank expect to see continued growth in that area.

“This is the right location because the new East State and Perryville will be Perryville and 173,” Johnson said.

The new location has drive-thru banking serviced by tellers, a 24-hour ATM and a free change counting machine available to anyone. There are no overdraft fees and no ATM fees, with every ATM refunded nationwide.

Coin machines and tellers at the windows are services that some banks have removed, Scott said. Rockford Community Bank sees it as part of its commitment to old-school personal banking built on connections to its customers.

“We want you to come in, you don’t need an appointment. We want you to come in, have a cup of coffee and enjoy being here,” Scott said. “We’re not trying to get you in and out, and that’s an old-school thing that doesn’t exist as much as it used to.”

Scott said the model has worked because Rockford Community Bank has embedded itself in the community, with local people running its branches and sitting on local boards and nonprofits.

“We have three locations in three years. We didn’t do that because it was going poorly, we did it because we really like it,” he said. “Our upper management really likes what’s happening in Rockford. They’re trying to replicate what we’ve done in Rockford in other markets because it’s gone so well here.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas