Kilwin’s opens first Delaware location in Rehoboth Beach

The newest entrant in Rehoboth Beach’s sweets arms race has confections that will make taste buds surrender.

Kilwin’s Chocolates and Ice Cream, 140 Rehoboth Ave., is the first Kilwin’s store in Delaware. Founded in Michigan in 1947, Kilwin’s has gradually expanded into Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

Bringing the new store to life are owners Claudia and Gary Simpson. Kilwin’s main attractions are its handmade fudge, ice cream, and chocolate and caramel candies. All the fudge, chocolate and caramel products are made at the store every day. Among the fudge flavors, the double dark chocolate and peanut butter are particularly tasty. The Simpsons said the toasted coconut flavor is also popular.

Also made daily are the creative confections like chocolate pretzel rods, truffles, tuttles – Kilwin’s version of a turtle – and caramel bear claws. The milk pecan tuttle is the most popular sweet in the Kilwin’s franchise.

For ice cream, Kilwin’s has several flavors of its original recipe brand. Ice cream is served in either a bowl or Kilwin’s own homemade waffle cone.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Gary Simpson said of the store. “Kilwin’s is really focused on quality and having an outstanding product. That’s why we bought the local operation.”

The Simpsons first became aware of Kilwin’s in Florida and ran into it in North Carolina and Maryland over the years as well.

“We knew it was expanding and Kilwin’s corporate was very high on Rehoboth Beach,” Simpson said. “Once we saw they were considering selling it to local people we jumped on it.”

The Simpsons had been semi-retired but as Gary said, “I was getting a little bored. We were starting to think about business opportunities. When we saw Kilwin’s it became the obvious choice for us. It was a no-brainer.”

Simpson said Kilwin’s will be open year-round and will feature gift-oriented chocolates for special occasions such as Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

“We want to keep it fresh. We want to keep it from being viewed as just a chocolate store, just a fudge store or just an ice cream store,” Simpson said.

For more information on Kilwin’s, call 302-227-3611.