Surf Shack owners open Bernadette’s Beach Boutique
A year after opening Surf Shack on Penny Lane in Rehoboth Beach, owners Ron and Bernadette Dawson have opened a women’s clothing store a few doors down.
Bernadette’s Beach Boutique follows the surf and coastal theme, but the owners wanted to kick it up a little with the women’s clothing, Ron said during an interview July 31.
The Dawsons opened the original Surf Shack on the Forgotten Mile outside Rehoboth Beach in June 2020. They opened a second Surf Shack location on the Wilmington Avenue side of Penny Lane last summer. Bernadette’s Beach Boutique opened this spring, a few doors down toward Rehoboth Avenue.
The second Surf Shack location is doing well, so when the Bernadette’s space became available, they acted on it quickly, Ron said. There are bikinis, dresses, women’s tops and other higher-end items, he said.
Because it’s Penny Lane, the boutique is found in a retail space that’s not much more than 15 by 15 feet. Despite the shop's diminutive size, Bernadette said the goal is to have something for everyone.
“From teenagers to 70-year-olds,” she said, adding that she chooses all the clothing. “We can only do so much in a space this size, but we’ve done a lot of research by going to industry shows and looking at what boutiques in other beach towns have.”
The plan is for Bernadette’s to be open year-round, but they haven’t had the time to figure out the exact hours.
“We wanted to get the store open,” Bernadette said.
Bernadette said she’s still getting used to her name being on the store’s sign.
“I’ve met more Bernadettes this summer than I have in my entire life,” she said.
For now, Bernadette’s Beach Boutique, 42 Rehoboth Ave., is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. For more information, call 443-528-1492. Surf Shack can also be found on Instagram, under surfshackrehobothbeach.
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.
