The financial services firm Fidelity Investments moved into its new space in downtown Bethesda on Monday in the Chevy Chase Trust building at 7501 Wisconsin Ave., about three blocks north of its old location.
The Bethesda branch of Fidelity — a Boston-based company that offers services such as retirement planning, wealth management, mutual funds and brokerage — had been in the Bethesda Crossing building at 7315 Wisconsin Ave. for roughly 15 years, said Amy Godwin, the branch manager.
The branch moved into the Chevy Chase Trust building because its lease was up at the end of 2019, she said.
The Bethesda branch employs 38 associates and serves roughly 7,000 household clients, Godwin said.
Fidelity is on the ground and seventh floors of the Chevy Chase Trust building.
The new space features an open-air lobby where clients are greeted by an agent, then taken into a private office to meet with a financial adviser. The lobby differs from the previous space, Godwin said, which featured a traditional counter separating clients from the staff.
“We don’t have a counter anymore, so we’re trying to remove that barrier between our clients and our associates to make it a much more personal experience,” she said.
The new Fidelity branch includes a refreshment area with water, coffee and fresh fruit for clients while they wait.
Godwin said there are video monitors in each adviser’s office where clients can see their financial information as they meet with their adviser, part of the “next generation investor center” concept behind the space.
“The whole sense of it is to make it a much more comfortable environment for people to plan in and get to know their adviser and for us to get to know our clients,” she said.
Fidelity’s other Maryland branches are in Annapolis and Towson, with a Columbia office set to open in June, Godwin said.
While there are no immediate plans for another Montgomery County branch, she said the company is looking at spaces in Gaithersburg for a possible future location.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media
