First Western Planning Bentonville Branch on Walton Boulevard

First Western Bank, currently with nine locations in Arkansas, will add its first Bentonville branch in the spring of 2016.

Chairman and CEO John T. Hampton said the Booneville-based bank has acquired a former gas/convenience store development at 1106 S. Walton Blvd., and the property is being renovated into a state of the art financial services branch.

First Western is Benton County’s third-largest bank in terms of deposit market share, according to the most recent data available (June 2014) from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. With $125.7 million in deposits, the bank has 3.14 percent of the market share, trailing only Arvest Bank ($2.41 billion) and Decatur State Bank ($127.7 million). DSB has since been acquired by Oklahoma-based Grand Savings Bank.

“We are excited to open this branch to serve our many existing customers in Bentonville,” Hampton said. “This facility will be unlike any other seen in Arkansas.”

First Western presently has four locations in Benton County — 575 Memorial Drive in Bella Vista, and Rogers locations at 2722 W. Walnut St., 401 W. Walnut St. and 2601 Champions Drive.

According to property records, the bank bought the former Flash Market on Walton Boulevard for $625,000. Flash Market Inc. of West Memphis was the seller.

First Western had $324.3 million in assets as of March 31, according to the FDIC.