Commerce Bank Ground Breaking Ceremony Marks Construction Of New South County Marketplace Location

ST. LOUIS - July 17, 2003 - Commerce Bank Executives and South County Chamber of Commerce officials, held a ground breaking ceremony this morning to mark the construction of the new Commerce Bank South County Marketplace location, located at 4100 Rusty Road, near the intersection of Interstate I-55 and Lindbergh Blvd. Commerce Bank will own and operate the new Banking Center, which is scheduled to open in Spring 2004.

The new Commerce Banking Center will provide full-service banking to individuals and businesses and will offer a complete range of retail, commercial and investment services. Upon completion, the bank will include 5 drive-through lanes, 1 ATM, and more than 4,000 sq. feet of floor space for tellers, financial services representatives, plus personal and commercial lending staff.

Patrick Higgins, Senior Vice President and Group Manger for Commerce Bank in St. Louis commented, "This is a significant day for the South County community and for Commerce Bank. As we break ground today, we look forward to the future. At Commerce, our commitment goes beyond building a new facility to also building value-added relationships with our customers and the community, in which we live and work. We believe this new, state-of-the-art facility will be something of which both the Bank and the community can be proud."

Gray Design Group, St. Louis, is the architect for the project and ISC Contracting is the general contractor.

About Commerce Bank
Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBSH) is a $14 billion regional bank holding company. For more than 135 years, Commerce has been meeting the financial services needs of individuals and businesses. Commerce provides a diversified line of financial services, including business and personal banking, wealth management and estate planning, and investments through its affiliated companies. Commerce Bancshares operates across three states with more than 330 locations and also has operating subsidiaries involved in mortgage banking, credit related insurance, venture capital and real estate activities.

For additional information, please visit www.commercebank.com or email mymoney@commercebank.com

Website: www.commercebank.com
e-mail: mymoney@commercebank.com
SYMBOL: CBSH

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