"Ours Is the Age of Lifestyle"

"Ours is the age of lifestyle," writes Rob Walker in The New York Times, describing the latest offering from Umpqua Bank in Portland's trendy Pearl District: a CD ...as in a compact disc, with music on it. Umpqua has positioned itself as a lifestyle choice, not a banking option: their "stores" (not branches) offer "free wi-fi access, Umpqua brand coffee, a spacious seating area and flat-screen televsion monitors"; Walker says they are "designed to suggest a stylish hotel lobby where you're tempted to hang out (and, perhaps, read a tastefully printed brochure about certificates of deposit, checking accounts and loans)." In their quest to become community hubs, Umpqua Banks are now selling CDs with tracks from local, undiscovered musicians, and training their staff using the same program employed by the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.

  

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