How does an ice cream shop last fifty years on a street where, by its owner's count, 39 frozen dessert businesses have opened and closed between the top of Main Street and the end of City Dock?
Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory opened on Dock Street on October 29, 1976. That makes its 50th anniversary land on October 29, 2026, the same day local artists are scheduled to carve the Great Annapolis Pumpkins, one of which sits on Dock Street. The date also falls right after the boat shows hand City Dock back to construction crews, and more than a month before the Naval Academy's Barry Gate is expected to reopen. For the businesses at the foot of downtown, that gap is the stretch of the year with the least room for error. Storm Bros.' answer is a coffee counter.
A Coffee Counter at the Front of an Ice Cream Shop
In early September, owner Sveinn C. Storm announced "Storm's a Brewing," a coffee, breakfast and pastry operation at the front of the Dock Street shop. Eye On Annapolis framed the reasoning plainly. Instead of relying only on ice cream, Storm Bros. would try to draw customers earlier in the day and through more of the year.
Storm put it more directly in a Facebook post the outlet quoted: "So, necessity is the mother of invention."
The staffing tells you how small this block is. Several former employees of Bitty & Beau's Coffee, the neighbor that just closed, are expected to work the new counter. Storm aimed to open between September 21 and 25. Both Eye On Annapolis and Patch reported that window, and Eye On Annapolis added that city permitting would likely be required. As of early October, no published report confirms that the counter has opened or lists its hours. Check with the shop before you plan a morning around it.
The September report said the shop "will celebrate its 50th anniversary next month," without describing a specific event.
The Neighbors That Closed Before Winter
The coffee counter answers a specific loss next door. Bitty & Beau's Coffee at 124 Dock Street set September 13 as its last day. Co-founder Amy Wright said the shop's seven-year lease was ending. The City Council's September 14 agenda carried a citation honoring the owners of Bitty and Beau's Coffee at 124 Dock Street and 11 of their former employees.
A few doors down, Annapolis Marine Art Gallery at 110 Dock Street plans to close its physical gallery by the end of the year and move online. Co-owner Samantha Wilkerson linked the decision to losses from construction.
Up the hill, All The Rage Vintage at 208 West Street announced it would close by September 13. Owners Erica Kagan and Sarah Taylor signed a lease for an appointment-based vintage studio at Meadow Mill in Baltimore, not for another downtown storefront.
Storm summed up the mood on his block in one line:
"We have watched four nearby businesses announce their closing. We don't want Storm Bros on the City's extinction list."
He has seen this pattern before. Storm told Eye On Annapolis that Dock Street businesses also went through City Dock work in 2007 and 2008, and again during the boardwalk and bulkhead replacement in 2015 and 2016.
Why Late October Is the Thin Part of the Calendar
The boat shows briefly change the footprint of City Dock. Ahead of the Annapolis Powerboat Show (October 8 to 11) and the Annapolis Sailboat Show (October 15 to 18), sections of the construction fence were moved to make room for show entrances. The main entrance this year sits between 110 Compromise Street and the Fleet Reserve Club. The city's resident-only parking restrictions on listed streets run October 5 to 21, and move-out continues through Friday, October 23.
At the end of October, the boat shows return the site to contractor Whiting Turner and construction resumes. Two weeks of the year's heaviest crowds are followed by the fence going back up, while the summer ice cream season is already over and the next big draw is still weeks away.
That next draw is a gate. At an August 25 press conference, Mayor Jared Littmann laid out the revised City Dock timeline:
- December 2026: the U.S. Naval Academy is expected to reopen Barry Gate, which the city says will restore foot traffic to the Dock Street business corridor.
- March 2027: the Ego Alley boardwalk reopens to pedestrians, Watermark returns to its berth at Susan Campbell Park, and boaters regain access to the Ego Alley slips.
- July 2027: City Dock Park opens, along with the Maritime Welcome Center, which houses the Harbormaster headquarters and the City Dock Visitor Center.
- Summer 2027 to spring 2028: a scaled-back Phase Two with limited closures along Upper Dock Street, the top of Ego Alley and Compromise Street.
The city describes the project as on budget and ahead of schedule. It also says enough of the work is in place that tidal flooding events have already been significantly reduced, with full protection from rain-driven flooding expected once every phase is finished. The mayor's request to the public was specific: "More than any grant or loan program can do, sustained sales will help these businesses survive and thrive."
For anyone who lives within walking distance, the practical result is a stretch of roughly six weeks from the end of October into December. The fence is back, the gate hasn't reopened, and Dock Street's businesses depend on whoever walks down the hill. The city says Dock Street businesses stay accessible through the work, with customer pickup and drop-off still available on Upper Dock.
The Late-Fall Calendar That Pulls People Downtown
Most of the season's programming happens uphill on West Street, Maryland Avenue and Main Street. Some of it routes directly past Dock Street, and October 29 is the clearest example.
- Great Annapolis Pumpkins: the giant pumpkins return at Hopkins Plaza, the Visitor Center, Dock Street and the Opera House on Maryland Avenue. Local artists carve them on October 29, and they stay on display through November 2. Visit Annapolis gives the display run as October 5 to November 2.
- Annapolis Scarecrow Stroll: the fifth annual stroll runs October 24 through November 2. It is organized by the Inner West Street Association with the Maryland Avenue and State Circle Association and the Downtown Annapolis Partnership, and the scarecrows line West Street, Main Street and Maryland Avenue.
- Dinner Under the Stars: West Street between Church Circle and Calvert Street closes to traffic from 4:30 to 11 p.m. on Wednesdays through October 21.
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: the Colonial Players' production runs October 23 to November 8.
- Hammond-Harwood House Pumpkin Walk: October 30, 4 to 6 p.m., at the house on Maryland Avenue.
- Small Business Saturday: the Downtown Annapolis Partnership holds its event on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is November 28 this year.
- Grand Illumination: the downtown tree lighting near Market House and City Dock is listed for November 29.
After that, the calendar runs straight into the month Barry Gate is expected to reopen. Midnight Madness is listed for December 3, 10 and 17.
On the afternoon of October 29, the Dock Street pumpkin will be carved within sight of a shop marking fifty years on the same block. The pumpkins come down on November 2. Storm Bros.' coffee counter, if it is open by then, is built to keep serving through the weeks after that, while Dock Street waits on the December reopening.
Behind many downtown Annapolis homes is a short walk to a counter like this one, and we pay attention to those walks as closely as we pay attention to the houses. If you're weighing what the next year of City Dock construction means for your own block, from the Barry Gate reopening to the boardwalk's return in March, The Tower Team works out of 209 Main Street, a few minutes uphill from Storm Bros. Stop in on your way down to Dock Street, and we're glad to walk through it with you. Work With Us.