Julian's Only Bank Closes Its Doors

The town of Julian is best known for apple pie and cider, but for people who call the mountain town “home”, it takes more than just dessert to survive.

Julian residents are upset about their favorite bank closing down, but it also happens to be the town’s only bank.

“Every town needs a bank, said Rebecca Vargas who manages Julian Imports. "At least an ATM.”

Rabobank recently sent customers letters saying the branch will close May 1st.

A Rabobank spokesperson says it’s a business decision.

Now locals are left with two inconvenient options: they can keep their accounts and have them transferred to the nearest Rabobank branch in La Quinta, 100 miles away, or they can transfer everything to a new bank in Ramona which is still an hour drive round trip.

“It’s going to be tough for all the merchants cause we walk across the street, we do our banking, we’re done in 5 minutes” Vargas said.

Julian business owners are particularly troubled because many of their tourist customers pay with cash.

“We don’t want to keep a lot of cash sitting around the stores, and we also are constantly needing to update our registers with change from the bank, especially during Apple Days” Vargas said.

The bank isn’t the only business to close up shop in recent months and years. The town drug store, pharmacy, hardware store and feed store all closed up shop for good.

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