A downtown Wilmington store known for selling art and handmade crafts has a new owner.

Buffy Frank, a customer who became a partner in the 13-year-old store this summer, purchased Crescent Moon at 24 N. Front St. for an undisclosed amount on Monday.

“I was a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, and my best friend told me to get a life because the kids were getting older and I was getting bored … so when I saw on the Wilmington Downtown app that the store was up for sale, I was devastated, and then I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I might be able to do this,” Frank said Thursday.

Before making the transition to business owner, Frank worked for three months with previous owner Joan Loch, who bought Crescent Moon in 2007 with her husband, Mike. Under Frank’s ownership, the store will continue to offer art and crafts, including jewelry, glass, paintings, textiles, pottery and accessories, from handmade handbags to hand-knit scarves, among other items.

She said she plans to bring in the work of 15 new artists in addition to offering items from artists that came in under Loch's ownership. Frank said Thursday that she is also redesigning the store and setting up a stationery section in advance of the holidays. Currently, she and her family live in Virginia and also have a residence in Surf City, and Frank commutes frequently between the two and downtown Wilmington.

Former owner Joan Loch, meanwhile, has turned her attention toward a marketing business, Market Resource One. She operated the company in New Jersey before moving to Wilmington and restarted it here last January. Loch works with small- and medium-sized companies on various marketing projects on an as-needed basis, she said Thursday.

“It came up because of requests from various business acquaintances because I’m involved in downtown and networking,” Loch said.

Business owners would ask her for help with different marketing needs, and she would do so, a lot of times for no charge, she said.

“And then it got to the point where I said, ‘There’s a need here,’ so I started the business again, not realizing that it would take off so quickly, which is a nice thing,” Loch said.

She said she’s happy someone who was a customer of the store decided to buy it, just as she and her husband were customers before buying Crescent Moon eight years ago.

“I’m pleased that she’s going to continue the brand and the philosophy that Crescent Moon was built on ... handcrafted and made-in-America and items that support the local and national economy and help keep some of the small mom-and-pop and cottage businesses alive,” Loch said. “There’s so much being done online these days – you even have art being sold online. [With Crescent Moon] it’s the atmosphere. It’s not just what you sell at Crescent Moon, it’s how you sell it and the people involved. It’s a lot of relationship-building and it always has been, and I think Buffy’s going to continue that.”