CLEVELAND, Ohio — Huntington Bank will close 26 branches located in Giant Eagle stores in the Cleveland-Akron region in the next two months.

The Columbus-based bank, which is the second-largest in Greater Cleveland, will close a total of 30 branches in Ohio on Feb. 15. The others are in Youngstown and central Ohio. The decision to close the branches was made by Huntington, according to Giant Eagle spokesman Dan Donovan.

All of the branches that will close have an existing Huntington branch within a five-minute drive, Huntington said. Half of them have a branch within a half-mile.

“We have a longstanding relationship with Huntington Bank and (will) continue to operate more than 65 mutual locations throughout Ohio and West Virginia,” Donovan said in a statement. “At this time we are not aware of any plans by Huntington to change operations of additional in-store bank branches."

Huntington’s pullback is part of its periodic evaluation of branches, said spokeswoman Emily Smith.

“Huntington regularly reviews its distribution network and makes adjustments and improvements to ensure our mix of branches, ATMs, and online and mobile banking are in line with meeting our customers’ evolving needs,” she said.

The bank didn’t say how many jobs may be affected.

“Our people are our most important asset at Huntington, and it’s our goal to place the vast majority of our colleagues in other roles where they can continue their career with Huntington,” Smith said.

Huntington will remain the largest bank in Ohio and in Greater Cleveland by branches. It had 117 branches in the Cleveland area as of June; that doesn’t include 42 in Akron or 26 in Canton. It has about 800 companywide. Huntington is the second-largest bank in Greater Cleveland by deposits, with 14% market share, behind KeyBank, which has 21% marketshare and only 72 branches.

It’s not yet known whether another bank or service may move into the spaces in Giant Eagle stores vacated by Huntington.

“Giant Eagle will evaluate the best use of the space currently occupied by the Huntington branches on a store by store basis, with hopes to use the space to deliver added value to our customers,” Donovan said.

It’s not clear what will happen to the ATMs in Giant Eagle stores.

“We are committed to making ATM machines available in as many of our stores as possible,” Donovan said. “No other Giant Eagle financial services – Western Union, check cashing privileges, etc. – are affected by Huntington’s bank branch announcement.”

Huntington closed 34 other branches in Greater Cleveland soon after its 2016 purchase of Akron-based FirstMerit Corp.

These latest closures are part of an industry trend. Banks nationwide are pulling back because so much everyday business has migrated online. Customers today can make deposits, apply for loans, make payments and more through their phones and computers, and can go months without setting foot into a branch. Among the 15 largest banks in Greater Cleveland, only four have the same or more branches as they did five years ago: Third Federal, Ohio Savings, Dollar Bank and Westfield. The other 11 have reduced their branch counts.

The number of branches in the Cleveland area dropped by 12% from 2014 to 2019, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The number of branches nationwide peaked five to seven years ago. Analysts believe the number of branches will continue to fall nationwide.

The branches that will close, according to Giant Eagle:

Ashtabula: 2390 S. Prospect Ave.

Barberton: 41 5th St., SE

Berea: 50 W. Bridge St.

Brooklyn: 6300 Biddulph Plaza

Canfield: Canfield Colonial Plaza, 525 E. Main St.

Canton: 3100 Cromer Ave.

Chardon: 351 Center St.

Chesterland: 12692 Chillicothe Road

Cleveland: 15325 Edgecliff Ave.

Fairlawn: 2775 W. Market St.

Hartville: 907 W. Maple St.

Mayfield Heights: 6259 Mayfield Road

Medina: 870 N. Court St.

Middlefield: 15400 W. High St.

North Canton: The Strip/Stark Commons, 6493 Strip Ave., NW

North Canton: Washington Square, 1955 E. Maple St.

North Madison: 6556 N. Ridge Road

Parma: Snowview Plaza, 1825 Snow Road

Ravenna: 909 E. Main St.

South Euclid: 4401 Mayfield Road

Streetsboro: 1280 State Road 303

Tallmadge: 205 West Ave.

Uniontown: Green Village, 1700 Corporate Woods Parkway

Westlake: Crocker Park Shopping Center, 30275 Detroit Road

Willoughby: Willoughby Commons, 36475 Euclid Ave.

Outside of Greater Cleveland-Akron

Columbus: McCutcheon & Stelzer, 2900 Stelzer Road

Warren: Howland, 8202 E. Market Ave.

Warren: Jamestown, 2700 Mahoning Ave., NW

Youngstown: 5220 Mahoning Ave.