Deb Mascia joked that with luxury retailers like Dior, Coach, Emporio Armani and Marc Jacobs all around her new pop-up shop, she was feeling like a superstar and was ready to put her hands in wet cement.

Mascia is understandably excited that T Galleria Hawaii by DFS is building a beach-hut-style pop-up shop on the first floor to house a temporary rebirth of Muumuu Heaven.

In keeping with her philosophy and long-held practices, the shop is being built with recycled materials from Re-use Hawai‘i, including doors from a vintage Hawaii estate, a utility pole and reclaimed stained glass, to name a few, said Bruce L’Orange, general manager of T Galleria, formerly called DFS Galleria.

In addition to the beach hut, the build-out will include a 16-foot-tall palm tree done up with vintage aloha print fabric, and a living wall incorporating staghorn fern to be constructed by Kakaako-based Paiko Hawaii.

"We went and met with those guys, and they were just awesome," Mascia said.

Her Kailua shop closed in February, leaving countless customers bereft with only a smattering of her upcycled, repurposed and reborn clothing, accessories, other textile wares and home goods available in her much smaller shop, Hana Hou Vintage, also in Kailua.

The smaller shop also sells some items made by vendors whose products had been available in Muumuu Heaven, which closed after Mascia and A&B Properties were unable to reach terms on a new lease for the space the shop had occupied and expanded further into, for eight years.

Enter T Galleria, which is working to boost the "Hawaii experience" for customers in its luxury retail complex on Kalakaua Avenue, where all the fish are biting, both visitor fish and local fish.

The third floor is reserved for passport-bearing international travelers, but the first two floors are open for public shopping. It is something that, despite reportage in this newspaper and efforts by DFS, either is not widely known or is not top-of-mind with many Oahu residents.

The Muumuu Heaven pop-up shop will open Friday and will operate daily from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. for 60 to 90 days, depending on how it does. It will be staffed by DFS personnel, though former Muumuu Heaven "angels" will be involved in parties and promotions staged at the temporary shop during its run, Mascia said.

"We’re doing fun things with them, like an opening party, a Lei Day event" and more, Mascia said.

Additionally, Earth Day will stretch into Earth Week at the space, to include local art installations, cultural activities, and musical and hula performances.

Former Muumuu Heaven star Dale Hope also will come to the pop-up store for a book signing.

It also will stage activities for school students, “so it feels really exciting" to have the opportunity to spread her practical recycling, repurposing and upcycling mantra from the tourist mecca..”

L’Orange has headed up the high-end Waikiki retail property for about five months, having worked in the Saipan and Okinawa DFS operations for about the past five years.

In addition to the European and American luxury retail shopping at T Galleria, L’Orange wanted to add "local luxury" to customers’ experiences.

It started in February with a pop-up featuring Pow! Wow! Hawaii, the conglomeration of artists that have painted more than 70 murals through Kakaako, as well as a handful of local retail brands.

T Galleria plans additional collaborations with local partners to enhance the shopping experience for their customers, exposing them to local brands they might not otherwise encounter, which in turn will benefit the local brands.

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On the Net:

» is.gd/TGalleriaHI

» is.gd/MuuHvn

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.