Yes It Is, It’s True: How long can United Bank be a holdout?

When you drive on 142nd Avenue west to Dorr from the expressway, you can see a billboard with a picture of President Arthur C. Johnson declaring that United Bank has been turning away takeover attempts since 1887. I admit I am impressed, but I wonder how much longer United Bank can be a holdout.

Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of small-time businesses bought out out and taken over by the bigger boys, and the results have not been good. It is customary that when a big company comes in, some folks who work in the smaller one lose their jobs and that local firm that was big enough to serve you and small enough to know you becomes less friendly and more corporate. When the owners don’t live here, the business just doesn’t seem as interested in the community as it did back in the good old days.

This is why Arthur C. Johnson, local boy who made good, whom I went to school with back in the 1960s, is so proud of turning away those who have tried to buy out or take over United Bank.

We must remember that United bank itself did a little bit of consolidation in the past, growing from little old Wayland State Bank to having United Bank branches in Gun Lake, Hopkins, Dorr, Freeport, Clarksville and even Grand Rapids, where it is now headquartered.

So it’s not really a little bank any more.

But it’s still small enough to know you — my wife and I found that out a few years back. Somehow some scammers from Russia tried to withdraw $9,900 from our savings account. A bank employee immediately called us and asked if we were going on a trip or had come into a huge expense of late, to which we replied in the negative. Because United Bank knew us as long-time customers, its personnel paid attention when something fishy occurred.

I’m not sure a big bank, like Bank of America, Comerica or Huntington, would have caught this clever ruse.

But I do get nervous about what I see and hear. Takeovers, mergers and buyouts have been dominant in the business world over the past several decades. We’ve seen it happen with a lot of the tech industries, with automobile manufacturers, even with grocery chains.

Closer to home, we’ve seen Byron Bank in Wayland become Chemical Bank, a much bigger player in the financial arena. I hear tell generic drug manufacturer Perrigo, Allegan County’s largest employer, has been courted by a large company, but has refused to sell.

Bosley Pharmacy in Hastings not long ago boasted of being the community’s only locally-owned drug store. That ended when Walgreen’s bought out Dave Jasperse and Mike Smith and came to town with a brand spanking new franchise facility.

Now comes the unsurprising news that Spectrum Health, which has extended its tentacles all over West Michigan, has taken over Pennock Health Services, which certainly affects the little medical clinic at Gun Lake.

Years ago, Wayland featured a lot of quaint little restaurants locally owned and operated. Those days changed , beginning with the arrival of McDonald’s in 1988, followed by fellow franchise eateries Burger King, Taco Bell/KFC, Elias Brothers Big Boy, Little Caesar’s, Hungry Howie’s, etc.

So I’m watching and a waiting, hoping for the best. I hope United Bank can hang on. I’m not sure, even though Mr. Johnson exudes such confidence.