Josh Goodhue’s scheme was in place: means of evading camera surveillance (check), getaway plan (check), questionable crew of goons (check). But something funny happened on his way to knock over the Flying Disc.
“Look at what happened in here! No more heist,” joked Goodhue, a customer who was buying a mic and stand at the eclectic shop in Enosburg Falls, as he took in the spacious new layout that had foiled his facetious criminal master plan. “They did this expansion, and they ruined the whole thing.”
“They” are Flying Disc owners Kelee and Ben Maddox. Their store at 342 Main Street, on the historic Aseltine-Greenwood Block, is a celestial staple of the small Franklin County town that sells used CDs, musical instruments and video games, as well as smoothies, cookies and Gibson Coffee, roasted about a mile away.
The shop’s name refers to “the discs that we sell,” Ben said, calling the couple “alien agnostics.” Many of the customers, like Goodhue, are regulars who know the owners well enough to kid around on occasion.
In September, the Flying Disc doubled in size from 800 to 1,600 square feet, offering additional space for shopping, socializing and — the clincher for the Maddoxes — breathing.
“We used to be cramped in here,” Ben said. “Now, everything is out for people to see, and it looks organized.”
Before the expansion, which involved the removal of an adjacent storefront’s wall, the married couple rotated inventory out of the basement, when room allowed. Now, more merchandise fills the new area, and Kelee can display her handcrafted pottery, jewelry and hats on an entire wall instead of a few shelves.
A musician and one-third of the flute-jazz trio Astral Underground, Ben noted that freeing up lower-level space improved access to his underground recording studio, the Cave of Legends.
“It’s nice to have that extra space down there, too,” he said.
Previously, Ben dealt with merchandise vendors near the smoothie machine and cash register, often with customers nearby. Not ideal. He now has his own vendors’ corner.
The new wing also includes an ADA-compliant entrance ramp and a sweet-smelling kitchen. The Maddoxes live above the Flying Disc, and baking cookies for the business was putting a strain on their home setup. They acquired a custom Blodgett oven through Charles L’Esperance, a Blodgett engineer who frequented the Flying Disc as a teenager.
“That’s how old we’re getting,” said Ben, 52. Kelee is 49.
The Maddoxes initially opened the Flying Disc on St. Albans’ Main Street in 2004, a year after moving there from Hattiesburg, Miss., to be closer to Kelee’s sister. In 2007, they opened the Enosburg Falls location.
They tried keeping both shops open, but running both and raising two children — Apple, now 21, and Otto, now 19 — presented challenges. So they closed the original store in 2008.
In 2006, the Maddoxes formed a business partnership with the then-owner of the now-defunct County Courier newspaper to purchase 342 Main Street. Built around 1890, the red brick Aseltine-Greenwood Block has been a laundromat, video store and pet store in its past lives.
A spiral staircase once occupied the Flying Disc’s new space. Now, a Hula-Hoop-size wooden cutout of Pac-Man chases a white power pellet and blue ghost on that section of the refurbished wooden floor.
After the Maddoxes’ tenant, Wood Meadow Market, closed last summer, Ben and Kelee decided to fill the space themselves. The Flying Disc closed for about a week in early September for the expansion and reopened on September 9.
“It was a lot of moving things — moving things out, moving them back in, moving them to get organized,” said Ali Fix, a Flying Disc barista since 2024. “We did a lot of Tetris-ing to make it flow well.”
The Maddoxes know the Flying Disc’s makeover makes it attractive to potential buyers, but they have no plans to sell or retire. More than 100 customers a day visit for drinks and snacks, before and after school or work, and most of them are regulars.
“This is what we do,” Ben said. “And now we can do more of it.” ➆
This article appears in Winter Preview • 2026.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
