Possibly last Labor Day for Rehoboth Toy & Kite’s original location

For the past three decades, Rehoboth Toy & Kite Company has been bringing smiles to Boardwalk passersby from its 1 Virginia Ave. location. It appears that could be coming to an end soon.

In an interview Aug. 31, Rehoboth Toy & Kite Company co-owner Rachel Webster said she and fellow co-owner Bee Linzey have fallen behind on their mortgage payments because of COVID-19, and the bank has started the foreclosure process.

“This is totally a matter of COVID,” said Webster.

As with many businesses, Webster said money is always tight as the end of winter nears, but COVID-19 rearing its head just as business would traditionally have picked up made it impossible to keep up. Webster opened the Rehoboth Toy & Kite Co. in 1993. A year later, Linzey came aboard as Webster’s business partner. Rehoboth Toy & Kite Co. was named the 2019 Business of the Year by the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Located on the Boardwalk level of a multistory condominium complex, the One Virginia Avenue site is the original home of Rehoboth Toy & Kite. Webster said she and Linzey purchased the commercial space approximately 15 years ago. Adding to the purchase price, she said there were a few hundred thousand dollars’ worth of improvements that needed to be made almost immediately.

Webster said she and Linzey aren’t really interested in owning the space anymore, but as of now, she said, the bank isn’t interested in taking the deed back. She said they would probably be interested in renting the space from whoever the new owner is.

Webster said, “This could be our last Labor Day on the Boardwalk. It’s just unfathomable.”

In 1997, Rehoboth Toy & Kite Co. opened a year-round location at 67 Rehoboth Ave. Nearly 20 years later, in 2014, that store moved across the street to its current home in First Street Station. Webster said there is no desire to close the Rehoboth Avenue location at this time.