After 50 years, Bellinger’s Jewelers in Rehoboth Beach closing
After 50 years in business, Bellinger’s Jewelers in Rehoboth Beach is closing.
“We’ve reached a point in our lives where we want to focus on our family,” said co-owner Dale Bellinger, who has owned and operated the business with his wife Nancy since 1980. “It’s been in the works for five years now, but life gets in the way and it just hadn’t happened.”
Founded in 1974 as Ye Ole Jewel Shoppe by Dale’s parents, Glenn and Bernice Bellinger, the locally owned jewelry store has been located on the Forgotten Mile the whole time. It was originally six blocks to the south, said Dale, pointing toward Dewey Beach.
The Bellingers made the retirement announcement a little more than a week ago. The one-story building, with an elegantly decorated dolphin in the front, now has a big yellow sign announcing the retirement sale. Road signs letting local drivers know about the retirement sale have been placed as far north as Cave Neck Road on Route 1.
Dale’s dad owned the second-largest jewelry trade shop in the Washington, D.C. area before making the move to Rehoboth, where the family would always vacation. When they closed the D.C. shop, they decided Rehoboth was the place they wanted to open a retail store, which is something they always wanted to do, he said of his parents.
Dale said he was always interested in the artistic side of jewelry design. He enjoyed working with the metals and gemstones to create something beautiful, he said. He also enjoyed working with customers.
There’s the good, like weddings, anniversaries and graduations, but there’s also the bittersweet, like creating something in memory of a recently deceased loved one, said Bellinger. It was always an honor to be working with customers in making pieces that were going to be family heirlooms and passed down for generations, he said.
There’s no set date for when the store will close, said Bellinger.
“We’ll be open until everything is gone,” he said. “But at this rate, it’s going to be quick, so you’ll want to get here soon.”
Bellinger’s Jewelers, 20747 Coastal Hwy., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 302-227-6410.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
