Tampa’s cult-favorite drink shop STORM is opening in St. Pete

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STORM co-owner Molly Mills will open the brand’s fourth location in St. Pete next month. | STORM

STORM, a Tampa-born drink shop whose colorful, clean energy drinks regularly go viral on social media, is coming to St. Pete.

The shop is known for 32-ounce electrolyte drinks available in more than 20 flavors, with options for carbonation, extra flavor, creatine, collagen, and varying caffeine levels. It also serves plant-based protein shakes all made with their unique protein formula.

STORM is expected to open before November 1st at 2600 4th Street North, replacing Grand Kitchen and Bath, which is relocating to the other side of the building.

For STORM founder Molly Mills, the opening is a return home.

Mills grew up in St. Pete and initially hoped to open the company’s first location here. But as a new business, she and her fiancé, Cole Schaller, could not find a space they could afford near downtown.

Schaller, who grew up in Tampa, gave them another natural place to start.

With $16,000 between them, they opened STORM’s first location at 3401 S. MacDill Avenue in 2021 and reinvested as the business grew.

STORM has since expanded to Westshore and near the University of Tampa. The St. Pete shop will be its fourth location.

STORM will open at 2600 4th Street North, formerly home to Grand Kitchen and Bath | Google Maps

STORM’s drinks start with the company’s in-house electrolyte and vitamin complex.

Its best sellers include Sugar Daddy, with coconut, strawberry, kiwi, and lemon; St. Croix, with coconut, blue raspberry, and lemon; Blueberry Acai; and Tropical Paradise, with strawberry, kiwi, and banana.

Customers can order drinks without added caffeine, with half caffeine at 90 milligrams, or with full caffeine at 185 milligrams. The caffeine comes from guarana and green tea extract.

Each drink also includes STORM’s vitamin complex, with vitamins B6 and B12, calcium, magnesium, zinc, chloride, Himalayan pink salt, sodium, potassium, green tea extract, and ginseng root extract.

The protein-shake menu includes Peanut Butter Cup, Banana Bread, Strawberry Banana, Peanut Butter Coffee, Island Greens, Chocolate Cinna Swirl, and Strawberry Shortcake.

Each uses STORM’s six-ingredient plant-based protein blend, made with pea protein, MCT, brown rice protein, agave inulin, sodium chloride, and stevia extract.

On top of the clean ingredients and delicious flavors, another reason customers keep coming back is the price. STORM has kept the base price of its 32-ounce drinks at $6 since opening.

“We want STORM to be affordable for all and for it to be something daily and essential in your life,” Mills said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

Storm is known for 32-ounce electrolyte drinks available in more than 20 flavors, with options for carbonation, extra flavor, creatine, collagen, and varying caffeine levels | Storm

The drinks may have playful names like Pink Bikini, Cherry Marg, and Jolly Rancher, but the company grew out of a specific frustration.

After working out, Mills kept finding the same options: a smoothie that did not feel especially healthy, a sugary coffee drink, or a canned energy drink she did not want to put in her body.

So, she and Schaller started making their own alternative.

Neither considered themselves energy-drink people, and both were wary of the category’s reputation.

“We didn’t want to call it an energy drink,” Schaller said. “They have such a bad stigma.”

Early versions of STORM were mixed at home as the couple tested natural caffeine sources, minerals, vitamins, and flavor systems. They wanted something sweet and refreshing without relying on sugar, sucralose, or aspartame.

They later worked with chemists to develop STORM’s electrolyte blend and created their own protein formula after finding that many supposedly clean powders had much longer ingredient lists than they wanted.

“It literally just started as this little concoction in the kitchen,” Schaller said.

For Mills, the appeal was never just caffeine. She liked the ritual of stopping for a drink, but did not always want coffee.

“I wasn’t a big coffee drinker,” she said. “It was kind of hit or miss. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I feel great after drinking a coffee.’”

A black coffee was not the sweet, refreshing drink she wanted, while flavored coffee often felt more like dessert than a post-workout reset.

Storm also serves plant-based protein shakes all made with their unique protein formula | Storm

STORM was designed as a different kind of pick-me-up: cold, fruit-forward, customizable, and built around wellness as much as caffeine.

“It doesn’t have to be a Celsius,” Schaller said. “It could be a Pedialyte to you. It could be a hydration thing. It can be what you want it to be.”

Mills’ active social-media presence has helped turn the drinks into a Tampa phenomenon, with customers sharing favorite flavors and seasonal releases.

Looking ahead, Mills and Schaller plan to expand across Tampa Bay, Florida, and eventually beyond, while keeping STORM corporate-owned rather than franchised.

As for STORM’s fourth location, it is a return home for Mills and a new stop for St. Pete customers who have already been following STORM from across the bridge.