The Adirondack Store was founded in 1955 by Tad & Linda Strugis, who built a glorified lean-to on the road to Saranac Lake and filled it with items they felt reflected the unique spirit of the great north woods. They released their first catalog that same year, one of the first in the northeast. A gallery was added in the early seventies, and for a while, works by local artists, and such painters as Rockwell Kent, A. F. Tait, and Winslow Homer, graced the walls. Over the years, the store branched out in various ways, including through many traveling trunk shows around the country, and a satelite store in the famed Lake Placid Club during the 1980 winter olympics. In 1984 and several owners later, the store was purchased by the Primes, a family with a retail history in the Adirondacks going back to the 1800s, and moved to its present location on the edge of Lake Placid. A second store was opened in 1995 in New Canaan, CT.