REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - Dolle's Candyland has been around for almost 100 years and the big orange sign has become a landmark in the city.
On January 31st, 2021, Dolle's is moving a few doors down to Ibach's Candy by The Sea. The sign, that has overlooked the Boardwalk since 1962, will be coming down, too.
Tom Ibach has been running Dolle's for the last 25 years, and says the rent has just become too expensive.
"When we reviewed the terms and conditions of it, we just felt it was not economically viable to sign the new lease," said Ibach. He says wherever he goes, the sign is going with him.
"I own the sign and I don't want to keep it here if I don't want the Dolle's business here," said Ibach.
TOM HAS BEEN IN TALKS WITH THE CITY TO MOVE THE SIGN TO A NEW LOCATION, EVEN THOUGH IT IS ILLEGAL UNDER CITY CODE.
"I'm sure the status that it has they may be able to work something out to allow it to be moved down there," said Ibach.
A petition on change.org has been created urging the city to save the sign, and make the building a historic site.
"It was clearly overwhelming disappointment that the Dolle's sign was leaving. So I just created it because clearly there was an effort there, and I shared it a couple times and it really just took off from there," said Eric Allen, creator of the petition.
Locals and visitors visited Dolle's on Monday and took pictures of the iconic sign.
"The whole reason I came down here today was to see this," said John Clisham from Silver Spring, Maryland, "It's an icon here in Rehoboth. My kids have loved it, we loved it, for years and years and years."
"I never realized how much Dolle's and sign meant to everybody. And the amount of support and everything is absolutely incredible and I want to thank everybody for that," said Ibach.
The current lease expires on January 31st. Ibach says if they cannot work something out, they'll put it at the facility on route one, which is still in the works