Coffee shop and fitness studio liven up Annapolis

New businesses hope to add to the ‘old section’ in the east end of town

Two new businesses on Bay Street will try to bring life, and hip drinks, to a musty section of waterfront.

Annapolis Fitness and Whiskey Gulch Coffee Co. will both be open for business on Monday. Located at 2065 Bay St. next to the Annapolis Foot Ferry Dock, two of Port Orchard’s newest businesses will be in an old section of town.

“People have been looking for something different,” said Rob McGee, the owner of the building along the water. “We thought it was time to put in some cool stuff in a cool area of downtown.”

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McGee and his wife, Kristi, bought the waterfront building last spring. Since then, the old building with amazing views of Sinclair Inlet has been completely renovated to house a boutique coffee shop, a sleek yoga and fitness training facility and an office for rent upstairs. The new businesses will be the first to the Annapolis area since a Happy Teriyaki located in the same building closed four years ago, said Susie Geisler, the owner of the Blue Goose Tavern in Annapolis.

“We’re happy to have new business here,” Geisler said. “It’s been pretty dead around here since the Happy Teriyaki left.”

The McGees hope some coffee and fitness is just what the area needs.

Whiskey Gulch Coffee Co. opens at 5:30 a.m. Monday. The 1,000-square-foot coffee house will serve Victrola brand fair trade coffee, delicacy desserts, such as signature brand bacon oatmeal cookies and a variety of gluten-free food options. Whiskey Gulch will offer free Wi-Fi and on warm days, said McGee, open windows to the Sinclair Inlet and views of the Olympic Mountain Range.

“There’s not many places in the area like this to get coffee,”  Rob said.

Annapolis Fitness, run by Kristi McGee, is already open by appointment. The 1,300-square-foot space is retrofitted with mirrord walls, heated floors and impact tile. Kristi said there are six trainers and two substitutes, each offering their own brand of classes that range in scale and difficulty. McGee said most trainers hope to keep their groups small, in order to best serve each participant.

“It’s group personal training,” Kristi said. “Everyone will have small group contacts.”

Rob said the renovated building has been applauded by most everyone who has walked by. He said the little things, such the USB phone charger plug-ins or the LED lightbulbs and energy efficient fixtures, might just be what visitors notice most from the old building.

“We took a building that should have been torn down and made something out of it,” he said.

 

 

 

 

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