Husband-and-wife duo opens their second Anne Arundel County business, Creme de la Creme

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A husband-and-wife team has officially opened their second business in Anne Arundel County, bringing a taste of French and Italian living — with a touch of Southern hospitality — to downtown Annapolis.

Tara and Ben Wegdam opened the doors to the new Creme de la Creme location on Francis Street in downtown Annapolis on Thursday. It is the latest of six Creme de la Creme businesses the couple operates.

The new storefront is inspired by French and Italian living with a touch of Southern hospitality.

"We started this business in 2000 in Middleburg Virginia and we have steadily grown and we like to open stores in fantastic locations that are fun and where we think there is a lot of customers and this is the perfect spot for this," Ben Wegdam said.

The couple says they are excited for the opportunity to have a storefront in a downtown area that is always buzzing with both visitors and locals.

"There are a lot of things going on, a lot of people come here for all different reasons, but a lot of people live here and we love that about a location especially for creme de la creme because people can just make it their own store. And there wasn't another store like this here so that was also a draw and we love downtown Annapolis," Tara Wegdam said.

Ben Wegdam says each of their stores learns from the others.

"Well the stores learn from each other too so its not only the product that you sell but also the way that you put them in the stores and in the systems and all of the managers talk to each other every week so we all learn form each other and try to be better and when an opportunity like this comes up you know we jump on it because its a great location here," Ben said.

During the grand opening, many people stopped by — some new and some familiar faces as well.

"Were excited to have all of these people come out and also all of the new people that we met I mean we also love customers so its really fun to meet people and know who they are and we just had some customers that came that have been customers for years I mean she was wearing creme de la creme, we sell some clothing items, but it was great to hear their stories about how they use their items and that they were just happy that we are here because they now moved here," Tara said.

The new store is the latest of a long list of new businesses in Anne Arundel County, including nearly 60 new or expanding businesses added in May and June of this year, according to the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation.

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