A new business is open in the Tamaqua area.

The Hidden River Credit Union celebrated its ribbon cutting on June 27 in Hometown. The new location marks Hidden River’s fourth in Schuylkill County.

“We serve exclusively Schuylkill County,” said Julia Fisher, marketing coordinator with Hidden River. “We’re not like the big large financial institutions that are nationally focused; we’re local focused. We try to often give back to the community and support the communities that we serve.”

Hidden River has been around since 1953, formerly known as Schuylkill County School Employees Credit Union. The credit union only focused on serving employees at public and private schools at the time, but eventually merged with other credit unions to become what it is today.

“We’re community chartered now, which means we can serve anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Schuylkill County,” Fisher said. “Anyone who fits that criteria can become a member. Today we have assets over $156 million with more than 16,000 members.”

Hidden River has other branches in Pottsville, Orwigsburg and Frackville. What made the Hometown destination so appealing?

“We are constantly listening to feedback from members,” Fisher said. “As we grew with our membership, more and more members asked us to open up other locations. Over the years, we’ve always been looking for opportunities. The location that we have Hometown now, seemed to be at the right place, at the right time. Everything seemed to work out. We’re in a great location to have that presence and have the ability to serve people with better positioning.”

The Hometown building has a completely different appearance than it did when it was Santander bank. Fisher said Hidden River completely remodeled the interior.

“One thing that you notice as soon as you walk through the door is that we kind of have that Hometown family feel as soon as you walk in. It’s not like those financial institutions where you’re on a teller line. There are actually (member service representative) booths, which means the people can sit down and we take the time to know the members and take care of their needs.”

Hidden River offers a mobile app, which can be accessed at any time. Clients can even deposit remotely with a few simple clicks. Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. The Pottsville location offers a drive-through on Saturday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.