Boca Raton, Fla. — When Ray Davis joined Umpqua Holdings Corp. roughly 18 years ago, the Portland, Ore.-based company boasted only a handful of bank branches that were battling their competition with rates and undefined notions of service.

Back in 1994, Chief Executive and President Davis said he knew Umpqua, like any other business, had two options: fix the bank or let it die.

“We have to adapt or we die,” Davis said during his keynote at this week’s Best Practices in Retail Financial Services Symposium. “You cannot stay the same. …It’s too expensive to stay the same.”

Davis decided to evolve Umpqua by first answering the question of why anyone would bank with it. In its core-value soul search, Davis said Umpqua realized what it couldn’t plug.

“Bank products are a commodity,” said Davis. “You can’t differentiate yourself with bank products.”

Identifying product delivery as its key value instead, Umpqua decided to help distinguish its brand by sustaining the relevancy of its branches to consumers.

“We don’t have branches. We have stores,” said Davis. “In stores, you browse, shop around and buy things.”

When conceptualizing his new stores, Davis studied retailers to mimic their skills of drawing people in, while avoiding researching banks or using bank consultants.

“If you look for inspiration in the same old places, you will find the same old ideas,” he said.

Now, years later, he views his stores as community centers. Certain locations host activities like yoga sessions and bowling tournaments, for example. And all stores house an actual phone that consumers can use to call Davis directly.

By creating a more personalized branch environment, people remember and like the bank, said Davis.

“We are always trying to evolve and improve the customer experience,” he said.

We note that some of the largest banks in the nation have recently started calling their branches “stores,” too.

To date, there are 195 Umpqua Bank locations and Business Insider reports that the bank grew from around $150 million in assets when Davis took over as chief executive to just under $12 billion in assets.

Davis, though, credits Umpqua’s success to the company culture.

“Culture is the most important intangible of all,” he said.

Though the environment for banks nationwide is “lousy today,” Davis said FIs still need to distinguish their value propositions in order to stay afloat.

“You must have a value proposition that lets you compete,” Davis said. “If you think margins are down now – wait. …In today’s environment, if the only way you are competing is by price, you are dying. You need a better value proposition.”