A Rosenfeld Deli’s and Big Fish Market that has been operating since May in the Plaza III shopping center at 1845 Marsh Road in Brandywine Hundred suddenly closed its doors on Monday, surprising many customers.
The closing comes just two months after the Rosenfeld’s Deli stopped operating in downtown Wilmington after a nearly two-year run because an owner said the plan was to concentrate on the Marsh Road site.
A sign has been removed from the outside of the Marsh Road building, and brown paper covers the windows. On Tuesday, a few customers drove up to the site to see an announcement on the door that read:
“Effective Monday Oct. 24th Rosenfeld’s Big Fish will be permanently closed. Stayed tuned for future details.”
It’s not yet known if another concept is coming from the owners.
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“We have closed this location presently,” read a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page on Monday. “We are weighing our options regarding moving forward there. We thank all of you for your business. It was greatly appreciated.”
Rosenfeld’s is a traditional, kosher-style deli that was started in Ocean City, Maryland, in 2013, by lawyer Warren Rosenfeld. He also operates a location in Rehoboth Beach. A Rosenfeld’s deli at the Salisbury, Maryland, airport closed in September 2020.
In 2019, Rosenfeld teamed with Big Fish Restaurant Group, the Rehoboth Beach-based hospitality group, to create more delis.
Big Fish and Rosenfeld collaborated on a Rosenfeld’s Deli and Big Fish Market in York Beach Mall on Coastal Highway in South Bethany Beach that opened last summer. It sells sandwiches and desserts, as well as fresh fish.
A month later, the group announced plans to renovate the former Goat Kitchen & Bar and another site in the Plaza III shopping center at 1845 Marsh Road in Brandywine Hundred for Rosenfeld’s Jewish Deli and a Big Fish Market similar to the Bethany site.
A Rosenfeld’s deli at 1204 N. Washington St. in downtown Wilmington, next to the Big Fish’s Washington Street Ale House, also opened in the fall of 2020, just months after the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the nation’s restaurant industry.
But the ongoing pandemic and the absence of the downtown Wilmington workforce, with many still at home due to COVID-19, took its toll on the business. It closed its doors in August.
Rosenfeld, who answered customers’ questions about that site’s closing on the Facebook page, said the downtown Wilmington location “just wasn’t working without the office lunches contributing to our revenue.”
Big Fish Restaurant Group founder Eric Sugrue told Delaware Online/The News Journal that he had no comment on the closing of the Marsh Road location.
“Not sure what we are going to do with the site at this time. Working on a few options,” he wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon.
Ironically, the flagship Rosenfeld’s Jewish Delicatessen in Ocean City had been slated to close on Oct. 24, not due to lack of business but because the building’s landlord was planning to demolish the building at 6301 Coastal Highway.
But the demolition has been delayed and the restaurant will continue to operate through Labor Day 2024.
More:Rosenfeld’s reprieve: Ocean City spot to stay open until 2024 with ‘outpouring of emotion’
Some customers expressed hope on Tuesday that the same thing would happen at the Marsh Road site.
“I hope you change your mind. I just discovered your North Wilmington location and I like it very much,” wrote one customer on Rosenfeld’s Facebook page.
Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and follow her on Twitter @pattytalorico
