IV Hydration and Vitamin Shot Industry makes way in Rehoboth Beach

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - When you think about taking shots at the bar, Dewey Beach may come to mind. A new kind of bar is just down the street, but it may not be what you're imagining.

IV Drip Bar aims to make the community healthier by putting products right into customers arms. The business opened Memorial Day weekend.

Kate Hartig takes B-Complex, B 12 and Tri-Amino vitamin shots at the IV Drip Bar.

"This I've definitely felt a difference in my energy level, particularly like working on the computer," Hartig says. "I've just not been as sluggish, particularly in the afternoons."

Meanwhile Jessica Stone gets the IV Infusion. 

"My hair is better, my skin is better, my overall health is better," Stone says.

The industry has made its way to Rehoboth Beach. Another business, IV Nutrition is also located nearby.

IV Drip Bar owners Tania Pritz and Matt McKinnis say they were inspired by IV drip vitamin bar businesses trending in big cities.

"When you get vitamin IV, you get 100 percent absorption instead of when you do it orally, you're only maybe getting 30 percent of that, so it's much more efficient for your body to get it IV-wise," McKinnis says.

The owners say they thought their location in the Forgotten Mile would attract a lot of customers from the bars in Dewey Beach, but they say that people coming in to cure hangovers only makes up about a third of their clientele.

"Another third are coming to solely be as healthy as they can be and that middle third are folks who are dealing with chronic illness," Pritz says. 

A medical director oversees this operation. Only registered nurses, like Ryan Gray, administer the IV's and shots, taking vital signs first.

"We make sure that their medical history doesn't keep them from getting anything such as an allergic reaction they may have a history of or getting any fluids," Gray says.

There is some debate amongst doctors both in efficacy and need. Still, Stone believes the infusions helped her irritable bowel syndrome and warded off other colds she usually catches.

The Delaware Division of Professional Regulation says it has not received any complaints about any malpractice in the state. The FDA says IV hydration clinics present risk and require continued evaluation.

Click here to make an appointment or schedule a vitamin infusion party with IV Drip Bar.