TIPP CITY — Monroe-Federal Savings & Loan is opening a second location in Tipp City at 985 W. Main St.

The company held a Preview Night on Monday evening, Feb. 13, for community members and leaders to join the bank and its employees in celebration of the anticipated opening of the bank’s second location.

The bank has outgrown its original location at 24 E. Main St. in Tipp City and is opening a second location to expand, but will keep their downtown location open.

“We do intend to stay down there. We’ve been in downtown Tipp City since 1875 so we plan on keeping that going,” said Monroe-Federal Savings & Loan President Lewis Renollet.

Though Monroe-Federal is not quite ready to open the doors of its new Tipp City location to customers due to delays and supply issues, the bank’s Preview Night acted as an introduction to the community and to let people know they are expanding and will soon be ready to serve their customers in the new location.

The new location features a drive-thru teller window, a more open concept of the teller desks in the main lobby of the bank, numerous offices for various personnel and an upstairs with eight cubicles and more office space. The new location is going to focus more on the retail aspect of banking such as tellers and loan officers. While the original downtown location is going to remain open and maintain a retail aspect with a drive thru and teller lines inside, the majority of work at the downtown location will focus more on operations such as loan processing, helping customers with debit card issues and ensuring withdraws and deposits for customer accounts are correct.

“This is a little more accessible, downtown is a little difficult to park at and the drive-thru works out better as well (at the new location). Plus people can see us better,” said Renollet.

Following the Preview Night on Monday, the bank did a soft opening on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and the official kickoff for the new bank just off of Interstate 75 on state Route 571, or West Main Street, is set for Tuesday, Feb. 21.

During his speech at the Preview Night, Renollet explained why the bank is not quite ready to serve customers.

“We had a lot of delays, but we’ve been here since 1875, so what’s another one or two months. So anyhow, we’re here to get things going,” said Renollet.

Hours for the new location will be the same as the hours for their downtown location: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturday 9 a.m. to noon. The date has not been formally announced for the bank’s grand opening party yet, but according to Renollet, the event is set for the beginning of March.