Bin 66: A Toast to the Next Generation
Coastal locals know the stretch of Delaware’s Route 1 from Rehoboth to Dewey Beach as the “Forgotten Mile,” an outdated term referring to an absence of businesses here in the old days. But since 2003, area oenophiles have found the Forgotten Mile, well, memorable.
Credit Bin 66, the wine store that Tom Bachmann and Tom Poor started in the Rehoboth Beach Plaza Shopping Center and moved to a freestanding building down the street.
The “Toms,” who left Wall Street to pursue Poor’s passion for wine, quickly gained fame for tastings, social occasions held at the granite-topped bar. Wine was a serious subject, but there was no pretension. The couple’s Labradors slept in the sun, and in the front window display mannequins changed attire with the seasons. It was familiar, comfortable and reliable.
So, when fans learned that the store was sold, there was concern. However, the partners were careful with their legacy.
“We wanted someone who could carry the torch going forward,” says Tom Poor. “We curated wine from all over the world — the best wines and the best vintages.”
The men found the perfect match in Riley Quinn and Derrick Kelley. Like most happy marriages, they met through friends; the Toms never advertised the sale. “It is hard to think of anything that didn’t appeal to us about Bin 66,” says Kelley, who grew up in Felton, Delaware.
For the love of wine
The owners’ path toward entrepreneurship started in the hospitality industry. Kelley, a restaurant veteran since the age of 15, got a job at Frank’s Wine in Wilmington in 2015 while teaching at Odyssey Charter School. He liked it so much that he left teaching to work for Vine Street Imports.
In college, Quinn, a Wilmington native, worked at Iron Hill Brewery in Newark, where she relished suggesting beer and food pairings. She spent 10 years working in restaurants.
“I realized that wine really fed that joy I had first experienced at Iron Hill,” says Quinn, a former manager at Harry’s Savoy Grill in Wilmington. “There’s so much to learn about wine that it gave me something to sink my teeth into.”
The University of Delaware graduates met during an Opus One buying luncheon but didn’t become friends until they took the certified sommelier exam, where they spent 10 hours together. They were the only Delawareans and only two of a handful of people to pass the exam.
Opportunity knocks
The friends wanted to buy an existing store. That’s because there is little space for a new license. In unincorporated areas of Delaware, liquor stores must now be three miles apart. The spacing drops to a half-mile in incorporated areas. So they were thrilled to hear that the Toms were considering selling.
“The opportunity to purchase Bin 66 was essentially the opportunity to purchase our dream store,” Kelley explains. “It is heavily focused on fine wine. The customer community is incredible. They prioritize tasting and education, and they were and are extremely respected within the community and state.”
Friend Bill Galbraith, owner of The Wine & Spirit Company of Greenville and Tim’s Liquors in Hockessin, says the partners are up to the task. “Riley and Derrick are super wine knowledgeable, understand all aspects of the liquor industry and are young and hungry,” he says.
It’s a risk to buy a store that many feel is already perfect. However, Kelley and Quinn are from a different generation of consumers and wine enthusiasts, he says. The millennials maintain that their peers are looking to develop an affinity with a brand. As a result, they are adding more products from women, LGBTQ and people of color. What’s more, Bin 66 — named for Bachmann’s birth year — has a new website and new Facebook and Instagram pages.
There is still a pooch padding around the round wine bins — Quinn’s dog, Aries. But the mannequins no longer peer at the parking lot. After more than 10 years, “Greg and Marsha” saw an opportunity to retire, Kelley quips. “We opened a few Mondays ago to find they had packed their clothes and modeling stands and moved on. We wish them nothing but the best.”
The Toms feel the same way about the next generation. “They’ve done a nice job of keeping the ball rolling,” Poor says. “They’re going to take it to a whole new level.”
Bin 66
20729 Coastal Hwy, Rehoboth Beach, DE
(302) 227-6161
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Mon-Wed 10am-7pm, Thurs-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm
