vidalia &8212;As of Monday morning, Vidalians will have a new option when it comes to banking.

Tensas State Bank will open the doors of its fifth branch office, a move bank officials said will be good for everyone.

&8220;We&8217;re glad to be down here,&8221; President and CEO W.E. &8220;Skip&8221; Hawkins said. &8220;This is an area with a lot of potential and we hope to be a part of it.&8221;

The Carter Street location is the culmination of careful planning, but not the end of the growth. A branch in Tallulah, La., is scheduled to open next month.

&8220;We&8217;ve grown steadily,&8221; Hawkins said. &8220;We&8217;re well capitalized and are trying to leverage it more in order to grow.&8221;

Having a location in Vidalia positions the bank that much closer to the middle of the largest concentration of people in the Miss-Lou. And while current banking laws prohibit expansion across state lines unless by takeover, Hawkins is still hoping to do business on the other side of the river.

&8220;We certainly hope we&8217;ll appeal to the market over there and that people will drive across the bridge,&8221; he said.

The bank will house a drive-through teller service and ATM machine and will offer commercial and consumer loans through the location.

As if to echo the organic growth of the bank, Tensas State Bank chose to renovate the current building

instead of tearing it down and building from the ground up.

David Jones will be the senior lender in charge of commercial loans and assistant manager Priss Bryant will help handle the consumer lending.

Tensas State Bank was established in 1922 in Newellton. Today, there are branch offices in St. Joseph and an ATM location in Waterproof as well as one in Ferriday.