Grand Marais State Bank merger doubles locations statewide

Grand Marais State Bank has more than doubled its branch locations. A merger brought three new branches in southwest Minnesota to the bank.

GMSB President Mark Youngdahl told WTIP that the three branches that will now be included under the GMSB umbrella were part of CenBank, which was owned by the VonHoltum family, who also own GMSB. He said that the common owner explained the expansion in southwest Minnesota, which he said might seem “a little random” to customers. The additional branches are in Hutchinson, Buffalo Lake, and Ortonville.

Youngdahl said that when CenBank merged with GMSB, very little changed in the function of those branches. Because both CenBank and GMSB had a shared owner, he said that most of the operational systems and culture were already very similar.

Though the services offered at the branches are not changing significantly, Youngdahl said that the merger has required a lot of effort from employees. “Employees at both places have been amazing. There’s been a lot of late nights, a lot of weekends, a lot of extra hours put in,” he said. “It’s not something that we could accomplish without the great team of employees we have here.”

While services will not change, access to them will. Youngdahl said that customers of GMSB will be able to conduct all of their typical banking business at any of the branches, no matter where they do their primary banking.

“If you’re happen to be down in farm country and you stop in one of those banks, you can access all your accounts and access all the services you would here, and vice versa with their customers,” he said.

The additional branches began officially operating as GMSB locations on Feb. 7.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with GMSB President Mark Youngdahl about the expansion. Audio of the interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski February 10, 2026