File:MiniDip and Towpath Creamery, Brittany Grimm and Karin Tome, August 2018.jpg

Summary

Brunswick Business: Towpath Creamery

MiniDip and creamery increases Brunswick food options

   By Ryan Marshall from The Brunswick News Post, August 27, 2018

In Photo: Former Brunswick mayor Karin Tome’s shop Towpath Creamery, which opened in June, is a collaboration between Tome’s Towpath Creamery and The MiniDip, a second location by the owners of Frederick’s Serendipity Market & More. The shop is located on South Maple Avenue, not far from the C&O Canal Towpath. MiniDip’s Brittany Grimm, left, hold’s a South Maple sandwich and Karen Tome holds a hand-dipped ice cream cone

The shop on Maple Avenue in Brunswick was busy on Saturday afternoon, with a steady stream of hikers coming off of the C&O Canal towpath or wandering in from other spots downtown to grab an ice cream cone on a warm summer day.

Outside, a metal bowl was filled with water for any thirsty pups that came along.

Inside, former Brunswick mayor Karin Tome sat behind a counter, keeping an eye on her customers.

About two months after opening, business has been good, she said.

“Brunswick was ready for an ice cream shop,” Tome said.

The shop, which opened in June, is a collaboration between Tome’s Towpath Creamery and The MiniDip, a second location by the owners of Frederick’s Serendipity Market & More.

After opening in June, the market has taken a while to get started as they try to get a feel for what the flow of business and the busy times will be, Serendipity co-owner Diane Branson said.

But she’s encouraged to see a rise in customers for breakfast, and some commuters have begun calling ahead to have their order ready when they arrive in the morning.

Commuters headed to the Brunswick MARC train station are one of their main targets, as well as campers and cyclists and hikers on the C&O Canal towpath.

They’re also getting ready to offer prepared meals with curbside pick-up, and hope to offer a vegetarian option, a chicken or fish option, and another meat option, Branson said.

They had originally looked at Brunswick as a spot for their first store, but couldn’t find the right space and ended up opening Serendipity on East Patrick Street in downtown Frederick.

But then Tome approached them about opening up an ice cream shop in downtown Brunswick.

Towpath Creamery will provide ice cream from Pennsylvania’s Trickling Springs Creamery.

She was looking for an opportunity to open a small business after losing her re-election bid for mayor in 2016, and was looking for a way to help bring some more life into downtown Brunswick.

After initially considering opening a bed and breakfast, she decided on the collaboration with Branson and Serendipity co-owner Brittany Grimm.

The store also offers another food option for Brunswick residents.

The city didn’t have a grocery store from December 2013 until November of 2017, when a Weis store opened in the Brunswick Crossing neighborhood.

“We had a food desert for [four] years,” Tome said.

For now, her business is mostly people from Brunswick and the surrounding areas, including Jefferson and Lovettsville, Va., more than tourists, she said.

They’ve also seen a lot of locals coming in for groceries or supplies, as well as some commuters stopping in to get some items for dinner on the way home.

“I think it’s definitely serving a need,” Tome said.