Not Fade Away has reopened in Woodstock after eight months without a storefront, giving the music-inspired retailer its 11th local home in 35 years.
The shop opened this month at 5 Tannery Brook Road, steps from Tinker Street and next to a municipal parking lot.
“We’re back,” co-owner Marty Leffer said.
Leffer and co-owner Lindsey Elston closed their previous store, at Deming Street and Mill Hill Road, on Halloween after their lease was not renewed. They kept the business operating through online sales and by selling merchandise to other retailers.
Elston found the new space after connecting with its landlord on Facebook. She knew the woman owned the property and asked whether it was available. The previous tenants had left a day earlier, the landlord told her, and the two soon reached an agreement.
“It was really just luck,” Elston said.
The shop sells apparel, accessories, posters, and cannabis paraphernalia featuring imagery associated with the 1969 Woodstock festival and the Grateful Dead. Its name comes from “Not Fade Away,” a Buddy Holly song frequently performed by the Grateful Dead.
The business draws tourists and music fans from well beyond Woodstock. Brian and Kim Boyce of Elk Township, N.J., stopped at the store July 15 during their second visit to town. They had first visited Woodstock in 2018 on their way to the Adirondacks and returned to spend more time there.
After parking in the municipal lot, they spotted Not Fade Away through its window.
“Of course, I saw from the outside, it looks like our kind of store,” said Brian Boyce, 59.
Beyond the Woodstock shop, Leffer operates a general store and a Not Fade Away merchandise booth at festivals produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, a national concert promoter. The general store sells essentials including sunglasses and bucket hats.
Leffer has also developed business relationships over the years with the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, and the Allman Brothers Band. Despite that national reach, he said returning to a Woodstock storefront mattered.
“We’ve been a business in the town of Woodstock for all of these years and made a lot of friends,” Leffer said. “It’s an amazing town to be a part of.”
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.
