Tasti D-Lite officials is ready to start renovations on its new West Street store once the city gives its final OK for interior construction to begin.

"We just signed the lease about a week ago and got our floor plan from corporate," said Manager Mary Templin. "We're ready to probably start painting the outside this week."

The "battleship gray" building will be painted a "bright, cheery ice cream blue" in order to make the store more recognizable, Templin said.

"We want people to say the ice cream store on West Street, you know, the blue one," she said.

Before Tasti D-Lite moved in the location was a hair salon, and it sits next to Dunkin Donuts and across the street from Rams Head Tavern, which has offices on the floor above the new shop.

Templin used to manage the Tasti D-Lite in Severna Park for Ben Pascal—who owns the new Annapolis location and the store in Bel Air. She said the two spent some time deciding where would be the best place to open in Annapolis.

"We didn’t want to have to compete with the two ice cream stores on Main Street," Templin said. "We’ve seen a number of people come and go. There are wonderful, wonderful restaurants on West Street, but no desserts."

Tasti D-lite's product also differs from what's offered at Annapolis Ice Cream Co. or Storm Bros. because its dessert is not quite ice cream—but it's not quite frozen yogurt either.

It's a frozen dairy dessert that comes in more than 100 flavors, but no more than 100 calories per serving, Templin said. It's also low in sugar, carbs and a majority of flavors are gluten free.

The store will be looking to hire a few local folks to staff its shop, but Templin said priority is going to be given former employees who were let go when the shop in Severna Park closed.