Grocery Outlet slated for old Peebles in Rehoboth Mall

It appears the Cape Region is going to be getting a new grocery store in the form of value retailer Grocery Outlet at the Rehoboth Mall on Route 1 outside Rehoboth Beach.

The space has been mostly vacant since Peebles closed a few years ago. There had been talk of the off-price retailer Gordmans taking over the space, but it never came to fruition. In 2021, the space was briefly a Spirit Halloween.

Multiple job recruitment websites are advertising a general manager position. According to a sign on the plywood covering the front doors, the contractor in charge of the remodel is Good News Services, which is part of Maryland-based Good News Electric. The project was listed under the company’s portfolio.

As of now, there are no other Grocery Outlets in Delaware. There are two on Maryland’s Eastern Shore – Salisbury and Elkton.

According to its website, the company was founded in 1946 in San Francisco by Jim Read under the name Cannery Sales.

“Today, his store has more than 300 locations and is the nation’s largest extreme value retailer,” the website says.

The Rehoboth Mall is owned by Baltimore-based Cordish Companies, which could not be reached for comment.

According to a company website with mall leasing information, the mall area, which includes the contiguous space from Walmart to Rite Aid, the former Chevy Chase Bank and the restaurants along Route 1, is a total of 259,000 square feet and has an average daily traffic count of 73,000 vehicles. The website says there are nearly 80,000 people within a 10-mile radius of the mall.

An opening date for Grocery Outlet, 18910 Rehoboth Mall Blvd., is not known.