The store, due to open early next week, is a radical new design away from the traditional bank branches where discussions between staff and customers are held behind closed doors.
One of the major changes for the store would be Saturday trading.
BNZ retail banking general manager Chris Bayliss said in an interview that the store aimed to be such a radical change from the traditional branch that if branding was removed, customers would not know they were in a bank.
Banks needed to co-exist in the high street with other retailers.
"We are trying to get away from the stuffy image banks had - the Dad's Army, Captain Mainwaring, cold, sterile bank. They are too quiet.
"We don't want to be in the quiet corner of the shopping mall. We want to be part of a vibrant retail experience. We want people to come in and engage with our staff."
The new store, nearly opposite the existing BNZ branch in South Dunedin, is decorated in different colours than those seen in a normal branch and is open plan. Customers and staff will sit in specially-designed open booths to discuss banking needs with the fabric covering the booth walls designed to absorb the sound of conversation.
Mr Bayliss said that usually, conversation levels of people sitting side-by-side were much lower than when sitting in an interview situation across a table.
The South Dunedin store would be the fourth one for New Zealand, with others in Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland. In Auckland, the store looks more like a cafe as it revolves around a Wishbone cafe.
Nothing like that was planned for South Dunedin but Mr Bayliss was not ruling out future developments.
Each concept store was being developed differently to see what worked with customers and staff and what needed changing. There was plenty of space in and alongside the branch that might appeal to other retailers.
Asked why the latest store was sited in South Dunedin, Mr Bayliss said the bank had been operating there since 1913, there were many customers from surrounding suburbs who used the bank and there was a lot of confidence in the area. While South Dunedin might be struggling for an "identity" now, the area attracted a large number of people through large destination shops.
