Spokane-based Global Credit Union plans to close two of its branches, including one that's located inside a grocery store in Spokane Valley and the other in Moscow, Idaho, says Ed Neunherz, a senior vice president at the credit union. Neunherz says the closures likely will result in nine lost jobs.

The branch closures, which will be effective Nov. 6, are the result of separate business decisions, though both are aimed at reducing costs, he says. The branch in Spokane Valley, located in a Trading Co. store at 13014 E. Sprague, is being consolidated into a nearby Global branch at 315 S. Sullivan, about two miles away, Neunherz says.

He says the branch on Sullivan is larger and has drive-up services. "We'll be better able to serve (customers) in a location that works for us and the members," Neunherz says.

The Moscow branch, meanwhile, is being closed because it needs to be upgraded and moved, but Global decided it hasn't had enough growth in that market to merit such a project.

"We, like everyone else, are looking closely at expenses, so we looked at our Moscow operations and looked at our return on investment," Neunherz says. "We were not seeing the growth we had hoped to see."

He says Global has roughly 900 customers in the Moscow area, and that branch's assets and records will be moved to the credit union's Coeur d'Alene branch, at 320 E. Neider. Neunherz says the credit union hopes still to serve its Moscow customers through that branch, online banking, and through shared branching at other Moscow credit unions.

In addition to the nine employees who will lose their jobs, four other workers will be transferred to other positions at Global branches, he says.

Neunherz says the credit union has no plans to shutter any more of its 14 remaining branches. "We do not foresee any additional layoffs or branch closures, but we continue as prudent custodians of our resources," he says.

Global Credit Union has branches in Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, and at U.S. military bases here and in Italy.