‘An investment in Clinton’s future’: New TLC Community Credit Union downtown branch celebrates grand opening
- Mar 26
- 4 min read
By BRAD HEINEMAN
Clinton Local
Extensive remodeling efforts were celebrated and community support was on full display Saturday morning and afternoon when TLC Community Credit Union’s relocation to downtown Clinton was made official.
An 11 a.m. ribbon cutting ceremoniously marked a new era of investment and partnership between TLC and residents of the region.
TLC, which was founded in 1956 to serve Tecumseh and Lenawee County residents, now occupies a branch location right in the heart of downtown Clinton along the U.S. 12 (Michigan Avenue) corridor. The address of the new branch is 169 W. Michigan Ave. — the former location of Comerica Bank’s Clinton branch, which shut its doors April 24, 2025.
The opening of the financial institution not only breathed new life into a formerly vacant structure, it also brings with it the hope of positive impacts to Clinton’s downtown.
“TLC Community Credit Union has made a remarkable commitment to Clinton. The beautifully remodeled facility, the expanded services and the dedication to our residents reflect exactly the kind of partnership that strengthens our village,” said Clinton Village President Doris Kemner in a news release. “We are thrilled to welcome TLC as a cornerstone of our downtown.”
Clinton Village Council member Greg Michalak was in attendance at Saturday’s grand opening and highlighted the long-term value of TLC’s presence.
“This is more than a grand opening, it’s an investment in Clinton’s future,” he said. “TLC’s history of service and financial strength will bring lasting benefits to our residents and our business community. We are fortunate to have them here.”
The building features a welcoming design, expanded office spaces and a dedicated training facility for team members, new hires or even new product rollouts.
Another key feature is the teller “pod” setup, which, rather than a traditional teller line that creates a line of customers, the “pods” allow team members to meet customers side-by-side, making conversations more personal and collaborative.
“Each branch that we have designed since (the Dundee location) — Lambertville, Brooklyn and then here, the new Clinton space — has the pods,” said Alycia Nichols, executive vice president at TLC. “There’s not a divide anymore. The thought behind it is that it makes the transaction more conversational and that it’s not just so, ‘Let me cash your check, here’s your money and you walk out the door.’ We can have a conversation, we can talk to you about other products and services, or just develop that relationship and rapport with our membership.”
Many people refer to the lobby teller pods as something similar to a coffeeshop rather than the traditional banking institution, according to TLC Community Credit Union President and CEO Jeff Brehmer, who said TLC is very much a community-based organization, and being downtown and in the heart of Clinton is important.
“We’ve been in the Clinton market for eight years,” he said, noting 2018 was when TLC moved into the Tecumseh-Clinton Highway location that it recently vacated. That building has already been sold, TLC leadership said, and plans are in the works to welcome another business in that location, featuring health and wellness services.
The new building will provide for more exposure on the main thoroughfare through Clinton.
“That way we could just have more traffic, more exposure and then this space is significantly larger than the office that we had before,” Nichols said.
TLC Community Credit Union is recognizing its 70th year in business throughout 2026, Brehmer said. The origin of the credit union was the (Tecumseh) Products Employees Credit “It started at Tecumseh Products in Tecumseh, in a lunchroom with a card table and a shoebox,” he detailed. “And the employees formed a credit union and they put their savings into that. After that, the original branch of the credit union — which was right on Patterson Street across from the Products — lunchtime would ring and folks would walk across (the street) and deposit their checks.”
The credit union began to grow and soon merged with the Lenawee County Community Credit Union to form TLC Community Credit Union. Today, TLC serves more than 50,000 members and has earned recognition as one of the top 200 healthiest credit unions in the nation.
“We are chartered to do business in five counties,” Brehmer said. Those include Jackson, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Washtenaw and Monroe counties. “…We continue to look for where we have concentrations of members and where people have a need for us to be. Oftentimes, we’ll put one of our freestanding kiosks in a new area and see what the usage is and what the demand is.”
The Clinton location is one of six branches in Lenawee County. Even though it has relocated into some new digs, Clinton members will still see the same friendly team they know and trust, just in a space with more room and modern amenities.
Michelle Finfrock, for example, a member service (teller), will mark her one-year anniversary as an employee with TLC Community Credit Union in June. Prior to becoming a TLC team member, Finfrock was employed for 20 years with Comerica Bank — at least five of those years were stationed in the downtown Clinton location.
Moving across town was an interesting process, she said, but the end result is a reimagined building that looks “awesome.”
“Coming here from Comerica (Bank) was completely different,” Finfrock said. “TLC is like a family. It’s great. I love being here.”
Comments