Pride at MoonStone MPLS: Events, Workshops, and Community All June Long
MoonStone MPLS celebrates Pride Month with workshops, fundraisers, art installations, and community events at 3304 East Lake Street in Longfellow, Minneapolis.
MoonStone is Moving to Longfellow
I moved to Longfellow in 2013. I worked at Blue Moon, at Milkweed, at Geek Love Cafe inside Moon Palace. These are the businesses I grew up in as a retail person, and the neighbors I made became some of my closest relationships. When I found the space at 3304 East Lake, it did not feel like a business decision. It felt like going home. Longfellow Whatever covered the move before we even had the keys, and reading it back now, I remember exactly how it felt to finally be able to say: we are coming to East Lake Street.
Read the full article here.
MoonStone MPLS, a queer-owned shop carrying natural gems, tarot, incense, books, and handmade gifts, opened its new Longfellow location at 3304 East Lake Street in early 2025. This Longfellow Whatever feature broke the news to the neighborhood before the doors opened.
Owner Brenna Wernersbach is a familiar face in Longfellow. They moved to the neighborhood in 2013 and spent years working at Blue Moon, Milkweed, and Geek Love Cafe within Moon Palace Books before opening MoonStone. Moving back to Longfellow felt like a homecoming.
The Uptown run was formative but difficult. MoonStone opened in December 2023 in the former Eye of Horus space on West Lake Street, operating through road construction that eliminated parking, safety concerns, and Uptown-level rent with none of the foot traffic the neighborhood once had. By summer 2024, Brenna began looking for a new space, and the vacant storefront at 3300 East Lake caught their attention on a space-hunting drive.
The building has its own history. It operated as an Ember's for its first 30 years, then cycled through short-lived restaurants before sitting empty from 2007 to 2013. Nonprofit developer Redesign rehabbed the building, brought in Sonora Grill as anchor tenant, and later welcomed the outdoor repair shop Repair Lair next door. When Repair Lair moved to Minnehaha Avenue, the space became available.
The new MoonStone carries the same product mix as the Uptown shop, including crystals, tarot, sterling silver jewelry, astrology books, incense, and assorted curiosities and gifts. Brenna describes the shop as "the natural history museum meets the metaphysical shop." The back third of the space is dedicated to rotating maker pop-ups each weekend, plus weeknight classes.
MoonStone MPLS is now open seven days a week at 3304 East Lake Street in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis.
More Posts
Meet MoonStone MPLS - Southwest Voices Business Directory
Getting into the LBA business directory felt like something more than a listing. I had worked for businesses in this neighborhood for over a decade before I ever had my own. Sitting in a room with people I used to work for, realizing I was now their peer, was one of the stranger and more meaningful moments of this whole journey. Southwest Voices covered us that same fall, and it felt like a real welcome, not just a mention, and a huge surprise to see my face on the cover of this semi-annual resource!
Read the full article here.
MoonStone MPLS: Curiosity, Community, and Queer Space in Longfellow Minneapolis
Redesign did not just give us a building. They introduced us to a neighborhood that was already paying attention. When Jessie reached out to write this piece, we had been in the space for less than a year, and I was still getting used to saying "our Longfellow location" out loud. Being featured as part of what Redesign is building on East Lake Street felt like being officially counted among the people who belong here. This one meant a lot.
Read the full article here.
