Blue Moon: Your Friendly Neighborhood Coffee/Chocolate/Gift Shop.
Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts is a family and friend, owned and operated business. All of the staff have known each other for years, and it shows in the seamless way they all work together during busy times. The shop is usually hit with a morning coffee rush that can last hours. The small team manage a menu that changes with each season. Spring, summer, fall, and winter each introduce seven to ten new items, all developed and prepared in-house. This rotation allows the shop to offer drinks and confections that reflect high-quality, seasonal ingredients and customer demand for fun and unique drinks.
Throughout the day, the staff handles a range of tasks that support the shops operations. These include receiving deliveries, stocking the chocolate case, creating displays and visual merchandising, preparing seasonal drinks, and managing the limited storage of the shop. Blue Moon depends on the hectic holiday season to sustain itself. The owner, Amy Riddell says, “We make about a third of our yearly income in just the month of December.” The holidays are one of the most lucrative months for all businesses, but I would encourage everyone to shop small this year. Supporting small businesses like Blue Moon helps sustain real people that want to provide for their community.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2025) — A double shot of espresso pours from a commercial machine at Blue Moon Chocolate and Gifts. The shop serves all espresso-based drinks in traditional sizes and prepares each one with a double shot.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2025) — Barista Erin Kelly measures a house-made seasonal syrup at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts as she prepares a Salted Amber Maple Latte for a customer. The shop features its own syrups for flavored drinks, including this sweet-and-salty winter option.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2025) — Erin Kelly, a barista at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts, receives a large candy shipment as the shop prepares for the holiday rush. “The most stressful part of this job during the holidays isn’t the customers or the chocolates — it’s figuring out where to put all these boxes,” she said, noting the shop’s limited storage space.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 9, 2025) — A Cappuccino truffle is displayed at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts, one of the shop’s most popular confections. The truffle features a thin shell of white chocolate surrounding a dark chocolate ganache infused with coffee flavoring, finished with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 9, 2025) — A chocolatier restocks the display case at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts with seasonal holiday truffles as several other flavors run low due to high demand. Owner Amy Riddell said holiday sales are so busy that she schedules an extra staff member “whose whole job is to keep this case stocked,” adding that selling out of chocolates is “a good problem to have.”
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2025) — Barista Erin Kelly checks the chocolate display from the customer’s side at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts, seen here through the case as truffles reflect across the glass. Staff members periodically inspect the case from the front to ensure labels and spacing are accurate between restocks.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 9, 2025) — The exterior sign at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts displays the shop’s signature logo. The large sign helps draw customers to the downtown storefront and is one of the business’s most recognizable features.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 9, 2025) — A custom holiday tea blend is prepared at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts, where staff mix and bag the shop’s seasonal flavors by hand. The cranberry orange tea includes organic dried cranberries, dried and candied orange, chamomile and rooibos tea, and is finished with an orange garnish.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2025) — Owner Amy Riddell stands with barista Erin Kelly in front of the chocolate case at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts. Riddell said the shop’s small team is built on long-standing relationships, adding, “Erin is my best friend’s daughter, and I’ve known her since she was a baby. I’m so lucky to work every day with people I love.”
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2025) — Dry ice vapor fills the back kitchen at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts as water is run over leftover dry ice from frozen pastry dough shipments. Barista Erin Kelly said the staff enjoys the effect, adding, “It’s always fun to run the dry ice under water and watch it spread across the kitchen. We actually repurposed it for some spooky merch photo shoots during Halloween.”
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2025) — The blue outdoor seating at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts is dusted with snow and ice during an evening snowfall, captured about 15 minutes before closing. The chairs match the shop’s exterior and reflect the glow of Christmas lights and holiday decorations.
VALATIE, N.Y. (Dec. 4, 2025) — The espresso machine at Blue Moon Chocolate & Gifts sits cleaned and stacked with cups and plates after closing time, with the shop’s lights turned off for the night. Only the glow of the store’s iconic paper stars illuminates the coffee bar, casting a soft light across the quiet space.