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Service area · Annapolis, Anne Arundel County
Channel Letters in Annapolis, MD
Annapolis asks more of a sign than most towns its size. A boutique on Main Street answers to a historic district. A restaurant on West Street wants character after dark. A tenant at a Parole shopping center needs letters that read across a parking lot. Each one calls for different letters.
Custom channel letters, designed with you, built in our shop and shipped to Annapolis ready to install. Owned by Barrett Post, born and raised in Baltimore.
Photo: a Quality Signs storefront letter job in Florida, built in the same shop that builds letters for Maryland.
Channel Letters for Annapolis's Business Districts
The right letters depend on which Annapolis you're in. These are the four settings we plan around most.
Historic Downtown & Main Street
Brick storefronts, narrow facades and close sidewalk views. Smaller dimensional letters with fine detail, often halo-lit or non-lit, fit the setting and read well to people walking from City Dock or Church Circle.
West Street & Inner West
Restaurants, galleries and service businesses with steady evening traffic. Combo or halo-lit letters give a dining room or shop personality after dark without overpowering the street.
Parole, Solomons Island Road & Riva Road
Big shopping centers, pad sites and offices set back behind parking. Taller front-lit letters on a raceway, sized to the center's maximums, do the heavy lifting here.
Forest Drive & Bay Ridge
Neighborhood plazas serving Eastport, Bay Ridge and the Annapolis Neck. Clean front-lit letters with strong contrast work for grocers, salons, fitness studios and carryout spots.
Letter Styles That Suit Annapolis
Every style below is shown lit and unlit on our channel letter types guide, along with mounting options.
Boutiques & Galleries
Halo-lit letters with painted or metal-look faces, or crisp non-illuminated letters, keep a downtown storefront refined and easier to fit into historic-district guidelines.
Restaurants & Bars
Front-lit, combo or open-face letters with exposed LEDs stand out on West Street and near the water at night, and give a patio a sign people remember.
Shopping Center Tenants
Letters built to the center's criteria for height, color and lighting, usually on a raceway painted to match the fascia.
Mounting: raceway
City, County or Historic District? Permits in Annapolis
Annapolis is the state capital and the seat of Anne Arundel County, but the city and the county permit signs separately. Properties inside city limits go through the City of Annapolis. Many centers that use an Annapolis mailing address, around Parole and along Solomons Island Road, are in unincorporated Anne Arundel County, the same office that reviews signs in Glen Burnie.
Inside the Annapolis Historic District there's another step: exterior signs go through the city's historic preservation review, which looks closely at size, materials, mounting and lighting. Plan for that before you pick a design. Halo-lit or non-lit letters often have an easier path than bright face-lit letters on a historic facade.
Wherever you are, send us your address and any landlord sign criteria at the start. We design to them and prepare the scaled drawings and letter specs for the landlord package and the permit application.
Built for Brick, Stucco and Salt Air
Annapolis walls range from 200-year-old brick to new stucco and metal panel. We plan the mounting for your wall and send the letters ready for it.
Older Brick & Block
A raceway or backer panel keeps the number of holes in a historic or older wall down and gives the letters a steady background.
Waterfront Exposure
Letters are built with aluminum returns and backs, sealed and fitted with LEDs, then light-tested before they leave the shop.
New Construction
On newer centers and mixed-use buildings, flush-mounted letters give a clean modern look when the landlord allows them.
How It Works for Annapolis Businesses
Send Photos & Logo
Text or email a straight-on photo of your Annapolis storefront, rough wall measurements and your logo.
Free Drawing & Price
A scaled drawing of your letters on your building, with size, color and lighting options and an exact price.
Built in Our Shop
Letters are fabricated, fitted with LEDs and light-tested before they leave our Florida shop.
Shipped Ready to Install
Packed and shipped to Annapolis, ready to mount on raceway, flush or a backer panel.
Channel Letters From Our Shop
These are Quality Signs jobs in Florida, not Annapolis installs. They show the build quality and lighting styles we ship to Maryland. See more work.
Annapolis Channel Letter FAQs
Does an Annapolis address mean the City of Annapolis issues my sign permit?
Not always. Downtown, West Street and much of Forest Drive are inside the City of Annapolis. Many shopping centers with an Annapolis mailing address, around Parole and Solomons Island Road, are in unincorporated Anne Arundel County. We check the property first and prepare the drawings for whichever office reviews your sign.
Can I have lit letters in the Annapolis Historic District?
Signs in the historic district go through the city's historic preservation review, which looks closely at size, materials and lighting. Non-illuminated or halo-lit dimensional letters are often the easier fit there. Send us your address and we'll talk through options before you commit to a design.
Do you have a shop or office in Annapolis?
No. Quality Signs Baltimore has no shop or office in Maryland. We work with you by phone and email, build your letters in our Florida shop and ship them ready to install. Call 410-900-8524 to talk it through.
Do you install the letters in Annapolis?
Your letters are built in our Florida shop and shipped to Maryland ready to install. We'll go over delivery and installation details with you when we send your quote.
Which lighting works best near the water?
Any of our letter styles can go on a waterfront building. Front-lit letters read best from the road at night, and halo-lit letters give restaurants and boutiques a softer glow. We'll show both on a drawing of your building so you can compare.
What do you need to quote my sign?
A straight-on photo of the building, rough wall measurements, your logo file and your landlord's sign criteria if you have them. That's enough for a scaled drawing and a price.
Ready for a Free Annapolis Sign Drawing?
Send your logo and a photo of the building. Barrett will send back a scaled drawing and a price.
Also serving Glen Burnie, Columbia, Towson, Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Back to Quality Signs Baltimore.