A Walk Through Rehoboth Beach Main Street

Southern Delaware is affectionately known by locals as Slower-Lower Delaware (or Lower-Slower, depending who you ask).  Last month, I visited Rehoboth Beach with my family for a week at the Atlantic shore.  While there, I was able to fit a visit with Rehoboth Beach Main Street Executive Director Krys Johnson in to my busy schedule of building sand castles, eating boardwalk fries, shopping the boutiques, and reading under an umbrella. Believe me, there is nothing “slower” about Rehoboth Beach Main Street!

Although a “beach town,” Rehoboth Beach is open 365 days a year, and with that has the unique challenge of catering to both year-round residents and tourists within a wide range of ages, interests and economic levels. The Rehoboth Beach Main Street area encompasses the entire downtown, from the main thoroughfare, Rehoboth Avenue, and its side streets, to the ocean-front boardwalk. It follows that businesses are as varied as their environs—souvenir shops hawking plastic shovels, painted hermit crab shells and t-shirts, coexist with candy shops,  independent book stores, trendy home goods boutiques and high-end jewelry and clothing stores. Restaurants, too, range from one end of the spectrum to the other: from walk-up French fry stands and ice cream shops to farm-to -table cafes, seafood restaurants to pizza joints, gastro pubs to cantinas, and everything in between.  A myriad of other businesses and organizations, including hotels, art galleries, realtors, salons, spas, theatres, rental companies also call Rehoboth Beach home.

Serving such an array of businesses could be daunting, but Rehoboth Beach Main Street (RBMS), founded in 1999, rises (like the tide) to the challenge. In addition to advocating for businesses in local issues and conducting workshops for business owners, RBMS puts on a dizzying number of events to promote the city and draw people downtown to shop, eat and stay. Last year alone they did 33 events!

Executive Director Krys Johnson, who was unfamiliar with Main Street prior to moving to Delaware eight years ago, is now a champion of Rehoboth’s downtown and the Main Street movement.  “Main Street’s downtown revitalization is a complex process and the mission to create networks and partnerships whereby community leaders gain support and resources to help resolve important issues is work I am in total support of and passionate about,” explains Johnson.  She encourages business owners to become business supporters of RBMS, benefits of which includes having their business featured on the RBMS website and social media, inclusion in the annual print Main Street Guide Book, and access to sign and façade grants, among other things.  Johnson emphasizes that RBMS is there for all local businesses regardless of business supporter status.  The result of RBMS’s hard work and a strong local identity is a vibrant downtown with a healthy economy and notably non-existent storefront vacancy rates.

Energized from a meeting with Johnson, I decided to stroll around RBMS (with my mother-in-law, Calli, and niece, Natalie, in tow) to snap some photos to capture a bit of what makes Rehoboth Beach so wonderful.

(1) & (2) Rehoboth Avenue has a delightfully eclectic mix of business, with t-shirt souvenir shops and boutiques alike, running along its wide boulevard. (3) Beach Plum Alley leads to the Back Porch Café, at 59 Rehoboth Avenue, where I marveled at the dappled light and stout dog sculpture.

(1) Browseabout Books is a longtime Rehoboth Avenue favorite with a huge selection of books, toys and gifts. (2) The mural on the corner features book spines with clever beach-themed pun titles.  (3) View of 1st Street looking north from Rehoboth Avenue.

(1) Rehoboth Beach’s boardwalk features a wide, herringbone-patterned wood promenade, and is lined with beach-centric variety shops and fair-food eats. Dolle’s, a purveyor of fine salt water taffy, anchors the boardwalk at 1 Rehoboth Avenue. (2) The Rehoboth Beach Bandstand, located where Rehoboth Avenue terminates at the boardwalk, hosts concerts and events year-round. In fact, Johnson’s favorite event last year—out of a staggering 33—was the holiday tree lighting in November. The granite drinking fountain in the foreground was dedicated in 1929 by Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (3) The Sea Shell Shop, at 119 Rehoboth Avenue, is a one-stop-shop for all your sea shell needs.

Nestled between the main commercial streets are several open-air pedestrian alleys, including (1) Penny Lane Mall, and (3) the Shops at Rehoboth Mews. (2) Flowers, which are everywhere in RBMS, overflow their planters on Baltimore Avenue.

(1) Papa Grande’s Costal Taqueria, at 210 2nd Street, is one of many hip eateries in Rehoboth Beach. Restaurants range from walk-up boardwalk fry stands (the malt vinegar and potatoes are alchemy!) to farm-to-table gastro pubs, and everything in between. Rehoboth Beach is also home to one of my favorite craft brewery’s taproom, Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, at 320 Rehoboth Avenue (which is not pictured because I was too busy consuming to snap photos). (2) A store clerk helps shoppers in the window of the Bella Luna boutique at 127 Rehoboth Avenue. It’s a personal favorite mine for accessories and décor.  (3) Rehoboth Beach Variety, a throw-back general store at 107 Rehoboth Avenue, has a fine selection of sundries for ill-prepared tourists like me, including the ever-important sunscreen and aloe lotion. (4) Proud Book Store on Baltimore Ave caters to the many LGBT visitors to Rehoboth Beach, which has been considered LGBT-friendly for over 30 years.

Rehoboth Beach’s commercial district showcases a wide range of architectural styles, including converted late 19th and early 20th century homes, art deco store blocks, midcentury commercial buildings, and late 20th century infill. (1) & (2) Bike To Go rental shop sits happily alongside jewelry boutiques in a large Art Deco commercial building on the corner of Rehoboth Avenue and 2nd Street. (3) Claws Seafood House, at 167 Rehoboth Avenue, occupies a converted Queen Anne-style home with a canted bay window and cheery lobster-red trim.

Visit Rehoboth Beach Main Street,

All photos by Emily Wallrath Schmidt.

Emily Wallrath Schmidt is the Associate Manager of Communications and Development at the National Main Street Center. She manages the website, social media and Main Street Weekly. She is also responsible for donor research and helping to build relationships with individual, foundation and corporate supporters.