Where can you park your kids in a play area while you munch a little popcorn, watch a movie, or take a yoga class? Try your neighborhood bank.

Our Personal Banking Survey of more than 11,000 Consumer Reports subscribers found high levels of overall satisfaction with many banks, reflecting the new emphasis on convenience and customer service. Commerce Bank, the clear winner in overall satisfaction in the Ratings, keeps its branches open seven days a week, with drive-through hours starting at 7:30 a.m.

At the same time, about a third of our readers said their fees had increased during the past three years. In other words, when it comes to that popcorn, there’s no such thing as a free munch.

Our survey results highlight two of the major trends on today’s banking scene, one pro-consumer, the other not. But both mesh nicely as part of a larger business strategy, one that could change the nature of consumer banking for years to come.

For generations, banks made their profit on the difference between interest paid depositors and interest charged to borrowers. Over the past few years, however, as interest rates fell and competition for loan customers increased, banks started to rely more on another stream of income: fees on everything from ATM transactions to overdrafts. In 2005 the 8,833 banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation pocketed noninterest income of almost $222 billion, mostly from fees. That’s almost a 10 percent jump from a year earlier.

To get you in the mood to buy more products and ring up more fees, many banks are altering the look of their branches. Several major bank chains now refer to branches as “stores,” taking their cues from other retail establishments with large glass windows and airy floor plans. Inside, you’re apt to find well-stocked bookshelves, coffee bars, and the occasional movie or yoga class.

Many large chains are also building new branches. Commerce Bank, for example, added 59 in 2005 and says it will open another 60 to 65 this year.

As branches proliferate and the competition for foot traffic grows, a few banks have bucked the higher-fee trend and cut some charges, at least for now. Commerce offers a credit card with no late fee, no annual fee, and no balance-transfer fee. Last year it announced it would rebate the fees its customers are charged by other banks for using those banks’ ATMs.

Today’s trends mark a reversal of what happened in the early to mid-1990s. Back then many banks closed branches, hoping to get customers to bank by ATM, phone, or computer, all of which were less expensive for the banks to maintain. However, industry research revealed that even customers who did many of their banking chores remotely still visited a branch at least once a month. That caused banks to take a close look at how branches might be made more profitable.

“Smart bank executives realized their customers were comparing the way they were treated at their bank with their experiences at places like Nordstrom and Starbucks,” says Jim Eckenrode, managing director of banking and payments for TowerGroup, an industry research firm. “They saw they could improve customers’ experience by investing in their branches to make them as unique as those retailers.”

Indeed, banks that received our readers’ top satisfaction scores have campaigns to set themselves apart. For example, Wachovia Bank, which has 3,159 branches in 16 states and Washington, D.C., moved its tellers out of the traditional cagelike booths and placed them at concierge-style desks in its new locations. Branch managers sit in a kiosk by the front door. “We think of them as store floor managers, there to guide customers,” says Mary Beth Navarro, a vice president of communications at Wachovia.

Most of Commerce’s 387 branches in eight states and Washington, D.C., have greeters by the door à la Wal-Mart and provide free coin-counting machines, called Penny Arcades. Last year the bank launched a summer reading program in which company executives go into schools to read books to children. Our readers gave Commerce high marks for its convenient branches, telephone customer services, and online banking site.

Not all chains are transforming, however. Chase, which merged with Bank One in 2004, shuns the retail look. “We want you to be comfortable at our branches, but we also want you to feel that your money is safe,” says Thomas Kelly, a senior vice president.

More than 30 percent of the readers we surveyed said their banks now offered more products. That’s not surprising, considering the passage in 1999 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Financial Modernization Act, which loosened up the range of financial products that banks could sell. Most of the banks in our Ratings have their own insurance and brokerage divisions.

But most of our readers said they use their banks just for the basics. While all had a checking account, 59 percent had a savings account, and 75 percent had an ATM card. The number who had bought stocks, mutual funds, or annuities through a bank was in the low single digits.

Banking executives hope to change that. Getting you to buy more products not only boosts their fee income but makes it a pain for you to take your business elsewhere. If you bank online, for example, and want to switch, you’ll have to set up your accounts and type in a lot of long numbers all over again.

To learn what products you are likely to buy, many banks will keep closer tabs on your banking habits. If you inquired about mortgages at your bank, for example, a computer message could notify a teller of that fact the next time you drop by the branch. The teller could then alert the in-house sales force to spring into action.

If you’re in the market for a new bank, our Ratings can help you choose one that’s most likely to satisfy you, whether or not you ever take advantage of that yoga class. Here’s how to decide:

Focus on the services you use most. For example, if you often use your bank’s tellers and hate to wait in line, check that column of the Ratings.

Do the math. Next, call several banks to ask what they charge in your area for the services you expect to use. If you bank mainly via ATM, ask whether the banks charge for using another bank’s ATMs. If you have trouble balancing your checkbook, see what they charge for bounced checks or overdraft protection. If you don’t like to keep much money in a checking account, try to find a bank that offers free checking with no minimum-balance requirement. Several of the banks in our survey were recently offering such accounts, including Chase, Commerce, and Wachovia.

If you stay with your current bank, follow these suggestions to keep fees low:

Stick to the basics. One reason our readers have been largely satisfied with their banks might be that they use them for a limited range of services. When it comes to investments and insurance, you may be able to do better at financial institutions that specialize in those products. Only 30 percent of our subscribers were highly satisfied with their bank’s investment advice. Keep in mind that although your traditional checking and savings accounts are federally insured, the insurance and investment products they offer are not.

Use your debit card for cash. When one of your bank’s ATMs isn’t handy, use your debit card for purchases and ask for cash back, suggests Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, a site that provides bank data. “Often your bank won’t charge you for a cash-back transaction,” he says. “At most the banks will charge 25 or 50 cents to get cash back, which is a lot less than the $2 or more they charge to use another bank’s ATM.”

Make sure you have the right overdraft protection. Many banks charge about $30 in penalties if you bounce a check, but about $10 or less to automatically transfer money from your savings to your checking account to cover it. That’s a worthwhile service to have. Instead of a savings account, however, some overdraft protection plans link your checking account to a line of credit or a credit-card account. Then every time you overdraw your checking account, you’re borrowing money from the bank instead of transferring your own dough, which means you’ll be stuck not only with fees but also with interest charges.