Shooting for the Moon

After a quarter-century, Blue Moon Gift Shops in Wilmington remains a thriving marketplace that carries out the vision of owner MARY ANN MASUCCI and her longtime right hand, SANDRA PERUZZI. More than one hundred small retailers – mostly artists and artisans – operate their own stalls within Blue Moon’s 8,500 square feet of space. 

That space was built specifically as an arts marketplace in 1999 by its original owners, who constructed a multipurpose facility that also housed an art gallery, an upstairs pottery studio and a café. 

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, upended the retail landscape. 

“When the Twin Towers went down, people didn’t shop for six months,” Masucci says. “People were terrified.” 

A shadow passed over Blue Moon. Its artist vendors didn’t renew their leases because customer traffic had dwindled. The original owners decided to divide up the spaces into business condos and sell off the artist marketplace and the cafe. 

Masucci and her husband, new transplants from New Jersey, got wind of the sale. With a business partner, they purchased the property. 

“My husband said, ‘There’s this little business involved; would you like to run it?’” Masucci recalls. “(Blue Moon) was dead in the water, but it was such a great idea and had such potential. They tell you, never buy a business like that, but I saw a vision and was excited. And I love to support the arts.” 

Masucci brought an extensive sales and marketing background to this new project. She also inherited Peruzzi, who had sold the owners on the arts marketplace concept and was an experienced retailer. The two set out to make Blue Moon shine again. 

Masucci’s vision for her new shop was that of a tourist destination. 

“We wanted to be somewhere tourists could find local artwork, local talent,” she explains. “We put in a Strawberry Moon Food Market. Eighty percent of the food is local: mints, cookies, Wrightsville Beach sea salt.” 

The business also needed a local customer base. Masucci and Peruzzi have gradually woven Blue Moon into the fabric of Wilmington, collecting numerous “Best Gift Shop” accolades over the years. Masucci says the marketplace is a magnet for locals who want to create gift baskets. 

Local customers also look forward to November, when Blue Moon Gift Shops conducts its gift card giveaway. Masucci says that customers who come in and shop during the month can enter a drawing for $25 gift cards, valid for purchases anywhere in the store.  

“They can enter every time they come in, and we give away over one hundred Blue Moon gift cards,” Masucci says. 

“We don’t claim everything is handmade anymore,” she says, noting that about seventy-five percent of Blue Moon vendors are artists and artisans who sell their handmade creations. The other vendors are entrepreneurs who sell their wares. Even now, with websites like Ebay and Etsy that enable artists to reach buyers online, the bricks-and-mortar marketplace continues to attract a diverse mix of creatives to its space. 

Blue Moon also weathered the economic downturn of 2008.  

“Businesses were closing; it was a very scary time, but we got through it,” Masucci says. “We have grown every year except for 2008, when we stayed even. Our customers are really what has helped us be here. 

“It took a long time and a lot of hard work,” she says of her Blue Moon journey. “We’ve gotten to where we are by not looking behind us and staying focused on what we do.”  

It took a lot of determination, and Masucci’s strong Christian faith, to weather 2012. That year, she lost her husband. And the building’s original owners, who still owned and operated an art gallery next to Blue Moon as well as the space upstairs, decided to sell their holdings and move the gallery. 

“We didn’t want … a store going in next door, so we purchased it,” Masucci says. She and business partner NICK DEVENERO reimagined the space as a specialty art retailer that would be compatible with Blue Moon Gift Shops. 

“We call it Eclipse Artisan Boutique because (its offerings are) all handmade and mostly local,” Masucci continues. “We try to keep everything in here one-of-a-kind. There are a few antiques and unusual things. The artwork is all original.” 

The Masucci family now owns the entire building at 203 Racine Drive. Masucci’s son bought the upstairs property and rents out spaces to a variety of tenants. Her daughter manages the entire property, and Devenero handles the paperwork. 

Masucci will turn seventy this month. Peruzzi celebrates her seventy-seventh birthday Christmas Eve. Peruzzi no longer works weekends, and she clocks out at 3 p.m. on weekdays. But she still is an essential part of the business, according to her boss. And Masucci herself can’t contemplate retirement. 

“I love what I do, and the challenge of every day here,” she says. “Our one hundred Blue Moon vendors, our 200 Eclipse vendors, and our customers: everybody is relying on this business being here. I love sales, I love people, I love selling a product I believe in. I love our staff, and our customers are fabulous and so loyal to us. Although we pride ourselves as a tourist destination, locals support us all year long.” 

To view more of photographer Madeline Gray’s work, go to madelinegrayphoto.com.

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