Coastal Delaware has been busy lately, with a mix of exciting openings, big expansion plans, and a few notable changes.
Beach Bins is now offering professional trash bin cleaning across Sussex County, while Kids’ Ketch Toys and Games has opened in Milton, and Gather Bakery is serving authentic alfajores in Rehoboth Beach.
Rehoboth is also getting even more retail buzz with Dave’s Hot Chicken coming soon and Sephora heading to Tanger Outlets Surfside, and Georgetown is seeing growth with Hopkins Farm Creamery expanding plus ChristianaCare planning a new health campus.
There’s also a bigger headline in the mix, with Eddie Bauer expected to close stores nationwide and a local update with Ocean Medical Imaging closing in Milton after 17 years serving the community.
Check out more details on each one below:
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Beach Bins Brings Professional Trash Bin Cleaning Service to Sussex County
Beach Bins, an independent, family-owned garbage bin cleaning service based in Lewes, officially launched in June 2025.
The business offers an environmentally friendly way to clean residential trash and recycling bins throughout Sussex County (Rehoboth Beach, Lewes, Dewey Beach, Harbeson, and Long Neck), handling everything curbside right after local trash collection.
The process is designed to be quick and thorough. First, the team arrives at your scheduled time and location and begins cleaning your bins right where they stand.
Each bin is cleaned in about 30 seconds using advanced 360-degree cleaning heads that reach every nook and cranny, with pressurized water heated to over 200 degrees.
After the wash, Beach Bins disinfects and deodorizes using hot water combined with an eco-friendly disinfectant to eliminate 99% of germs and bacteria.
Once the service is complete, the bin is returned to your preferred location clean, sanitized, deodorized, and ready to go.
- Address: 18670 Coastal Hwy #1082, Rehoboth Beach
- Contact: (302) 213-3737 & [email protected]
- You can sign-up for their services here
New Kids Ketch Toys and Games Store Now Open in Milton
Kids’ Ketch Toys & Games has expanded with a new location in Milton, with a soft opening announced on social media on February 13th.
In that post, the store shared that the Milton location would open at noon that day, inviting locals to stop by and check out the store.
The Milton opening adds to a long-running Delaware toy store story. Kids’ Ketch has been part of historic downtown Lewes since 1990, when it was founded by Teresa Ford.
The shop started in a 450-square-foot space, then relocated and doubled in size before moving again in 1998 to its current space as it continued expanding its toy line and children’s clothing offerings.
In January 2019, Sandy and Lori Smyth purchased Kids’ Ketch and added it to their family of Tidepool Toys & Games stores in Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island.
The Lewes store offers more than 3,700 square feet of toys, books, and games for all ages, plus children’s clothing ranging from newborn to size 6x in the winter season and up to size 14 in the summer season.
The new Milton location offers 1,000 square feet with endless options of games, kites, educational toys, puzzles, Legos and crafts, among other items.
The store website also emphasizes their customer service, with a team ready to help shoppers find what they’re looking for.
- Address: 113 Union Street, Milton
- Hours: Friday to Sunday, from 10am to 6pm
- Contact: (302) 260-9379
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Gather Bakery Opens in Rehoboth Beach Serving Authentic Alfajores
Gather Bakery opened on Rehoboth Avenue in February 2026, bringing its artisanal alfajores to a dedicated year-round bakery space.
Isabel and Matthew Walsh specialize in making authentic alfajores, shortbread cookies, and savory biscuits, with a focus on small-batch baking made from scratch.
Alfajores are a popular dessert in South and Central America, made with two melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies and dulce de leche in the middle.
Gather was founded in 2022 and has been operated by Isabel and Matthew since then, with the goal of adding carefully selected items to the menu while serving the best possible product to customers.
Isabel is the daughter of bakery owners in El Salvador, Central America, where she began building her love of baking, and she has over a decade of baking experience locally.
Before opening the Rehoboth Beach bakery location, Gather could be found in Delaware at the Historic Lewes Farmers Market during the summer.
- Address: 204 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach
- Hours: Friday & Saturday, from 7am to 3pm
- Note: For now, all orders are for pickup only
Dave's Hot Chicken Opening Soon in Rehoboth Beach
Signs are already up in the space next to Mission BBQ in Tanger Outlets Seaside, and the upcoming opening is also reflected on the company’s website.
This will follow the first Delaware Dave’s Hot Chicken, which opened in Dover last year.
The concept originally started as a pop-up in Los Angeles in 2017, and it didn’t take long to build momentum, quickly gaining buzz and drawing lines down the street.
Now, the rapidly growing Nashville-style hot chicken restaurant has more than 1,000 locations across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and a news release said the company is planning to add more than 70 franchises this year.
The brand’s investor list also includes major names like Drake, Usher, Maria Shriver, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Strahan, adding even more attention to its expansion.
Our area seems excited about the addition and Tanger Outlets seems excited to welcome another wonderful cuisine option to the area for all of our locals and visitors.
Sephora Opening at Tanger Outlets Surfside in Rehoboth Beach
Sephora is officially on the way to Tanger Outlets Surfside in Rehoboth Beach, with plans for a grand opening on April 10th.
A sign recently went up at the outlets, and a spokesperson confirmed Feb. 19 that the location is expected to open this spring.
The new store will be positioned between the Tommy Bahama and Tommy Hilfiger storefronts, adding another major beauty and personal care retailer to the Rehoboth shopping lineup.
Once it opens, the Rehoboth Beach Sephora will become the company’s seventh location in Delaware, and it will also be the second standalone store in the state not located inside a Kohl’s.
Hopkins Farm Creamery Expanding with New Location in Georgetown
The Lewes-based ice cream shop shared the update on social media, calling it a “big drop” for its growing customer base in southern Delaware, and noting that the Georgetown shop will be one of two new locations the creamery plans to open in the region in 2026.
In the announcement, the company shared, "Like Michael Hopkins has said before, as our community keeps growing, we grow right along with it—and we can’t wait to become part of the Georgetown community in a big way.”
Hopkins Farm Creamery is known for its farm-made ice cream and offers more than 25 flavors, becoming a destination in Lewes that draws customers from across Sussex County.
While an exact opening date hasn’t been released yet, the company said both new shops are still on track for a late spring 2026 debut.
In the meantime, the Lewes location remains open for the winter season daily from noon to 7pm.
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ChristianaCare Plans New Health Campus in Georgetown
ChristianaCare announced February 12th that it submitted a Notice of Intent to the Delaware Health Resources Board to develop a new health campus in Georgetown, aiming to expand access to comprehensive outpatient and emergency care in a growing and underserved part of Sussex County.
The project is part of $865 million in new investments in Delaware over three years that ChristianaCare announced last July.
The proposed campus is planned for 20769 DuPont Boulevard and would include a health center offering primary care, specialty care, behavioral health, and other outpatient services, along with a neighborhood hospital featuring eight emergency beds and eight inpatient beds.
ChristianaCare noted that Sussex County is designated by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) as a Medically Underserved Area, and framed the project as a way to help close gaps in access to essential health services.
The campus is expected to be 42,000 square feet, cost an estimated $65.1 million, and open in late 2028.
ChristianaCare is also partnering with Emerus Holdings, Inc. for the neighborhood hospital component, describing Emerus as the nation’s leading developer of this care delivery model and noting its role in operating more than 45 acute care facilities nationwide.
Eddie Bauer Expected to Close All Stores
According to a February 2nd report from Business Insider, Catalyst Brands—the company operating Eddie Bauer’s brick-and-mortar locations in the U.S. and Canada—is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the move has led to widespread closures of Eddie Bauer’s more than 250 North American stores, it will not affect the brand’s manufacturing, wholesale, or e-commerce operations.
Separately, Eddie Bauer’s parent company, Authentic Brands Group, recently partnered with Outdoor 5 to take over Eddie Bauer’s e-commerce and wholesale operations, according to a January 8th press release.
Locally, this puts Delaware’s sole Eddie Bauer store, located at Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth Beach, on the chopping block.
A store representative said the Rehoboth location was given an April 28th closing date.
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Ocean Medical Imaging Closes Its Doors in Milton
Ocean Medical Imaging of DE has officially closed. In a social media post, the business shared that after 17 years of serving the community, it closed for good on February 26th.
The post thanked the community for its support and noted that the decision “was not made lightly.”
Ocean Medical Imaging also shared that it will be able to provide or transfer images to other imaging centers in the area and that it planned to post additional information on how to obtain prior images in the days following the closure.
The message was signed by “The OMI staff.”
Keep following the blog to stay on top of what’s opening, expanding, coming soon, and closing around Coastal Delaware!
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