Ground broken for Kmart in 1994

The stretch of Route 1 between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach has changed a lot over the last 30 years.

Among those changes was the addition of Kmart in 1994. The company, which was big in the 1990s, purchased 15 acres just north of the original Ocean Outlets (Tanger Outlets Seaside). It opened a 57,000-square-foot building shortly thereafter. It remained open until 2017, when Kmart downsized and the building was split into several smaller units. Kmart shuttered in 2021, with an Aldi opening in its space later that year.

Other spaces have been home to PetSmart, AndThat! (which closed in 2023), TJMaxx and, most recently, Homesense.