On the morning of Feb. 26, First Community Bank employees, friends, families, and clients paraded through the streets of downtown Conway. The trek began at its Front Street location with the destination set a half-mile away at its new 17,034-square-foot home at the corners of Harkrider and Polk streets. 

This is a move three years in the making. It was early 2021 when First Community Bank announced it purchased the property at 766 Harkrider St. and revealed its plans for a new principal location for Conway. 

Hiding in Plain Sight 

Its new location didn’t come without challenges. The search for it turned up a couple of unsuccessful purchase attempts on other properties, before a conversation between Conway Community President Grant Gordy and a client turned First Community Bank’s attention to Harkrider Street. 

“This client knew we were searching for property and brought the location, which was the former home of Second Baptist Church, to my attention,” Gordy remembered. “I questioned him and said, ‘There’s no way that property is for sale.’” 

The client nudged Gordy to call and ask. 

“That was the impetus that got us focused on this location that was hiding in plain sight,” Gordy said. “Once we zeroed in on it, we knew this had to be it.” 

As a Conway native, Gordy said it was gratifying to see First Community Bank’s commitment to establishing roots in the city through a brick-and-mortar facility that will serve its clients well. 

“As a hometown guy, it means the world to me — in a time where we see businesses limiting capital expansion through facilities — that our leadership thought enough of our team and Conway as a community to make this significant capital investment,” he said. “Beyond that, it has been incredibly humbling.” 

First Community Bank enters its new facility with nearly 20 employees, quadrupling from its humble beginnings in 2019 when it entered the Conway market with five employees. 

The Right Communities, The Right People, Doing Right by Customers 

What first attracted Gordy to First Community Bank in 2017 was the way it approached business, both from a moral and community-centric perspective, he said. 

“As our chairman and CEO Dale Cole says, ‘We go to the right communities, hire the right people, and do right by our customers,’” he said. 

First Community Bank began in 1997 with its first location at 710 Saint Louis St. in Batesville. From that first location, the bank has grown to encompass 33 branches in Arkansas and Missouri. As of December, the bank had assets totaling $2.75 billion. 

Since entering the Conway market, its deposits here have increased sevenfold, while its current share of the local market is six-times its initial holding.  

“We came here to compete,” Gordy said. “We have been incredibly successful with the formula we have implemented in all of the communities we serve.” 

It’s the golden thread that runs throughout how First Community Bank conducts business, Gordy said, which makes it easy to sell and attract the talent it needs to continue to grow. 

“We want to continue to work our way up the ranks as it relates to total assets in the Conway market, all while taking care of our customers,” he said. “It is gratifying to know and see the investment First Community Bank is making in our community through our nonprofit organizations, our schools, the business community, and more, to bolster the city of Conway.” 

As First Community Bank turns its attention to a new, state-of-the-art facility, Gordy said the bank will continue its approach of meeting its customers where they are and helping them achieve their goals. 

“Conway has always had a rich banking tradition, and First Community is thrilled to have roots here,” he said. “We look forward to growing here, all for the betterment of Conway.”