So, two school teachers spend a vacation in Key West–

… It sounds like the start of a joke, doesn’t it?

Would you believe that’s actually how we got started?

With forty-five years under our belt at our own happy (hatty) corner in Annapolis, you could say we’ve been around the block a fair few times. In celebration of that, we wanted to share where we’ve been as we reflect, and share our excitement of where we aim to go in the years that are coming!

How It Started

It's hard not to get lost in the ambience of fun and festivity away from the norm when on vacation. The sheer vibe of everyone having a good time, even the folks that worked the shops getting in on it made such an impression on Courtney Garton and his then-wife Margie Bryce that it could be said the bug had bit to take a bit of that home with them to Annapolis in 1978. 

What better way to do that than open up a shop of their own?

After some debate on just what to sell, they eventually had the epiphany of: hats. 

All manner of hats, at that. 

Everyday styles for men and women, but also the whimsical and silly--even crazy! 

And you'd better believe folks thought they were crazy for even wanting to open up a hat shop of all things in downtown Annapolis. 

… Which you know, is how we got our name. 

Margie's mother used to say she had "bats in the belfry" when she was doing something crazy growing up, and what better nod to give to their impending business venture, taking the leap to open up their own crazy hat shop?

It's safe to say the shop made quite the impression! To this day, we still get  people in who especially recall the fun and silly hats we once carried, glad to see we're still around, and we're always humbled and happy to hear their stories of enjoying their time with us through the years.

Where We've Been

Since 1978 it's been a wild and wandering road, that's for sure. 

We franchised briefly is 1984, leading us to have up to 30 stores at one point, but the small business, brick and mortar lifestyle has always felt more like home for us, so we went back to our roots and doubled down on our own niche in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia having stores in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Alexandria. 

We grew up. 

Kinda. 

We eventually stopped selling the silly hats and focused more on providing the very best we could offer in casual and dress styles to help keep you affordably covered no matter what the day would bring--but we definitely let ourselves still have fun from funky and stylish top hats (a personal favorite of a few of us here because what's a hat shop without some mad hatters?) to quirky Naughty/Nice beanies for the holidays. 

Eventually, Skip Briggs took the Hat Helm in ownership of the company in 2004, and he's been with us since, helping us navigate the waters of building our Handmade for Belfry line in 2014 working with such well-known milliners as Bollman and Stetson here in the states and eventually hopping the pond in 2017 to start our Belfry Italia line with such fantastic milliners such as Sorbatti, Tesi, Complit, Ferruccio Vecchi, and more. 

By 2020, we were still staples here in Annapolis, Fells Point in Baltimore, and had been enjoying a relocation of our Philadelphia store on Chestnut Street, but sometimes the good times hit bumps in the road and admittedly, 2020 had some rough ones for everyone worldwide.

When shutdown was declared, we took necessary measures to keep everyone safe and healthy, keeping only our web operations going with as bare bones in staffing as we could manage under the circumstances and were incredibly blessed with our customers understanding that these were exceptionally strange and hard times, and we were doing the best we could to still provide. When at last shutdown ended, we hit the ground running as best we could with the unfortunate news that we were going to have to close our Philadelphia location.

We found joy despite navigating the murky waters of a pandemic in seeing familiar faces of our regulars coming in to check on us at the stores and tell us how glad they were that we were back, and did what we do best: we kept going.

Since 2020, we've found time to refine and grow in new and exciting ways, and while we're small now--really small, with just our flagship store in Annapolis and our base for web in Millersville, we're so incredibly excited for the years to come, and what we will get to share with you. 

Where We're Going

So, where are we going?

We're excited to tell you that we're going to continue expanding our Belfry Italia line, building deeper relationships with our partners there to bring you premium Italian made hats first and foremost, from Tesi helping us build a collection of packable all-weather styles to Sorbatti who continue to create our most popular stingy brims. And of course, the beautiful women's designs of Complit  and Ferruccio Vecchi with hats and fascinators for everything from Derby and event wear to everyday must-haves more!

Also, fun touch of news for our hat connoisseurs: we're also going to be bringing back Borsalino for the first time in several years as a web exclusive collection. Keep an eye out for them in the fall!

Stateside, you all have been asking, and we're pleased to tell you we will be carrying some of Stetson's signature fur felt styles, from the Stratoliner to the Tri-City and Open Road. Bailey Hats is making a comeback as well for us, and we'll be bringing in some of their brimmed styles all handmade in the states!

We also want to expand on offering as many sized hat options as possible, because let's face it, not everybody has the same sized head--man, woman, anywhere in-between and beyond. As such, we're looking to do more gender neutral and inclusive sized styles in as broad sizing as we can manage with our partners.

Our first step in doing so has actually been in Annapolis! When stopping by our store, you may notice we've. . . rearranged a bit. 

Now, instead of a "Men's Side" and "Women's Side," we have the floor organized by style of hat! So if you come in looking for a particular style of hat, be it fedora, flat cap, wide brim or otherwise, we can steer you in the right direction and you have the entirety of that particular selection to look at: sized, one size, casual, dressy, you name it. This frees you up to be able to walk the whole floor without feeling like you can only be on just one side, and for the Hat Curious, it's a surprisingly amazing way to learn what styles you may personally jive with, while also getting to learn about all the fun details that make each style stand out on their own!

And that's just the start of it!

We like to describe ourselves as "The Little Hatter that Does" and you can bet we're tossing our hats in the ring for all the exciting new ventures that await, and hope you come along with us!