The only bank in Aurora closed its doors at noon today, leaving many residents worried about the future of their town. The closure comes just weeks after the school board voted to close the only school in Aurora. About a decade ago, the town also lost its only grocery store.
“It’s been such a valued business here in Aurora, and we all hate to see it go,” said Lewis Leaming, who has lived in Aurora for almost 50 years and banked there for most of his life. Now, the closest bank is in New Bern or Pamlico, which could add up to half an hour in travel time. “The worst thing they could’ve done was close the bank.
My mom is 86, she uses this bank. Now, we’ve gotta drive 20 miles to the next county to go to the bank,” Leaming said. Cody Blalock, an employee at the local Dollar General, expressed concern about the impact on the community.
“It’s just going to be like a dead zone here. There’s nothing around for miles,” he said. The nearest bank is now 20 miles away, posing a significant inconvenience for many residents, especially the elderly population.
Tony Moore, a local resident who cares for his 86-year-old mother, highlighted the difficulties.
Residents face impacts from bank closure
“We’ve got to drive 20 miles to the next county to go to the bank now, and grocery store, and basically anything else,” Moore explained.
“It’s more of an inconvenience for the elderly people if anything else, and this town is mainly elderly, at least 80% elderly.”
Southern Bank communicated the closure to its customers through a letter, explaining that the decision came after an evaluation of each branch’s ability to serve the community. The letter detailed the merger of the Aurora branch with its New Bern location, with other Southern Bank branches available in Ayden, Belhaven, and Greenville. The closure doesn’t just affect individual residents; local businesses that relied on the bank are also feeling the strain.
“It’s the only bank that’s around for miles, so it’s going to be harder to drop deposits and stuff like that,” Blalock noted. Moore pointed out the broader economic challenges facing the community. “They’re struggling,” he said of the bank employees.
“It’s a struggle, and then with the price of everything going up, it just makes life extremely hard to live.”
The recent closures have left many in the community worried that Aurora could become a “ghost town.” A resident remarked, “Everything’s closing. School, grocery store, bank… there’s nothing here except the dollar store, the little mini-mart on the corner.
It means no growth, period. No growth because our citizens here are getting older, and we don’t have the facilities to bring in young people and keep them.”
The situation in Aurora mirrors another recent bank closure in Bailey, Nash County, leaving that town also without a bank. The community is hopeful for change, but the immediate future looks challenging for this small, tight-knit town as they adjust to life without their local bank.