Somewhere owners open Coastal Native on Rehoboth Avenue
Looking to provide a place for local artists to sell their goods, Aileen Hearn and Kyle Ten Eyck have opened Coastal Native on Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach.
“It seemed like a natural thing to do, since we’re both artists,” said Ten Eyck.
Coastal Native opened recently a few steps from the Boardwalk in a space that most recently housed a jewelry store.
Hearn and Ten Eyck opened Somewhere restaurant on Baltimore Avenue in 2021.
Coastal Native carries locally themed jewelry, clothing, wall decorations, jams and jellies, preserved foods, kitchen decor and other items. The store features gifts and local souvenirs to attract customers looking for keepsakes that are nicer than the trinkets found at a lot of other souvenir shops, said Ten Eyck.
Hearn said she and Ten Eyck have wanted to open a store that sells and showcases local artists for some time. The store also allows them to co-brand their restaurant and store, she said, adding that all the merchandise available at Somewhere is also for sale at Coastal Native.
Hearn said they purposely didn’t get too specific when coming up with a name for the store.
“It’s not just about being here along the coast in Delaware,” she said. “It’s about being on any coast.”
Looking to the future, and to their creative sides, Hearn and Ten Eyck said they hope the store also gives them the opportunity to get back to creating their art.
Ten Eyck said it’s been tough to find time to be creative while getting the restaurant and the new store up and running.
“You have to be creative at the restaurant every day, but it’s a different type of creativity,” he said.
Hearn said the scheduled hours of operation for Coastal Native are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. However, she said, sometimes the store has to open later or close earlier, depending on employee availability.
For more information on Coastal Native, 12 Rehoboth Ave., email hello@somewhererehoboth.com.
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. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
