Taste the Rainbow

Several shuttered spaces around Wilmington are getting new lives and fresh purposes under several recent plans. One-time shops, warehouses, and homes have been transformed into new businesses. Check out the twists on the spaces and the inspiration these female owners brought to the reimagined buildings.

Canary Yellow, the Soda Pop District’s newest coffee shop and boutique hotel, was a dream JORDAN GIOVANNUCCI drew into reality using her unique background in art, design, and food science.

She has based her drink menu off professional paint colors, including the business’s namesake, Canary Yellow, despite the exterior and interior being mostly pink and red.

“My husband and I had been casually looking for something like this for a long time. The dream was a place that you could stay at and get coffee in the morning and have everything all in one place,” she says. “That’s what we were looking for, and we found it. I had been working on the design concept for the last two years, and it was something we morphed into what was available here.” 

For Giovannucci and her husband, CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL, discovering their current location felt serendipitous, as it was at a time they could go all in. Giovannucci sold her car, the couple sold their house, and they moved into the back of Canary Yellow and began renovations.   

Today, the home operates as a coffee shop plus a storefront for local vendors. Upstairs, the couple is renovating three rooms with hopes to open the boutique hotel portion by the fall or early winter.  

Giovannucci employed her roster of talents alongside her husband’s carpentry and woodworking skills to design the interior and create the menu for Canary Yellow.

“I was in art school; I did art school for a little while and dropped out,” she says. “My background is actually in dietetics, food science, which is part of the mad scientist aspect.”

Although she was working in her chosen field, she began to get design work around town.

Giovannucci worked on the interior design for Brighter Days Coffee’s former location in the Cargo District. She also designed the interior for Banh Sai’s new brick-and-mortar location, including the custom-designed wallpapers throughout. 

When it comes to the menu and recipes found at Canary Yellow, Giovannucci describes herself as a “mad scientist.” Years prior, she began to experiment with recipes for iced drinks and lattes, exploring flavors, sourcing coffee beans and syrups – that she now carries), and flexing her knowledge on color theory to create Canary Yellow’s menu.

“I’ve always loved coffee, and I wanted to make something different and interesting. Everything is based on a paint swatch; all ingredients are based on that, and I used that concept first to be able to make the drink,” she explains. “It was a whim, I wanted to do something different than regular coffee, something I really had to use my brain to do. Each ingredient was color matched.”

For instance, The Shadow is an iced latte with pistachio cream drizzle, blackberry vanilla, and blueberry lavender cold foam. The drink earned its name because both the blackberry and pistachio ingredient colors match with the Pantone color swatches Shadow Green and Shadow Purple. 

The coffee beans are sourced from Partners Coffee in Brooklyn, New York, and syrups from Proper Syrup, which Giovannucci says she has been obsessed with since she found it, describing the flavor profile as fresh, light, and not syrupy. She also works with ARIE KIRSCH, owner of Brighter Days Coffee Truck, on specialty syrups for the shop. Despite the whimsically creative menu, Giovannucci’s personal favorite drink at Canary Yellow is their chai latte. 

For food items and the consignment side of the shop, she looked locally: croissant-wiches from Gnome Nom Nom Eli, pastries from Cakabakery South, and desserts from The Jelly Cabinet Bakery. Vendors at Canary Yellow include Gilded Sun, Sunburn Crafts, Rivenbark & Co., Knotted Up Crochet, Stitched by Somer, Four Winds Exchange, Your Mom’s Closet, and Cup Half Full Ceramics – with additional vendors soon to be added and current consigners rotating their offerings.

The couple is hard at work getting the boutique hotel portion open by late 2025. Giovannucci has developed the color-themed design concepts for each room, while Russell provides the hands-on design installation and carpentry. Down the road, they eventually would like to expand Canary Yellow for markets, pop-ups, cocktails at night, and more. 

Canary Yellow, Giovannucci is happy to report, sold out its opening weekend in May. “I really want to make people happy,” she says, “for people to enjoy their time here and enjoy what they’re doing here.”

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

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