I yearn for more information/pictures of this eccentric tv/bike/lionel shop from the Capital District area of NYS. Wonder if anyone here has any thing to share.
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As a 10 year old boy, I ventured many a time down to the store with my grandfather on the bus, who got me started full time in the hobby in 1966, they carried a full selection of Lionel( they were a service station), Plasticville items, some Tyco Ho train sets as well as they were a full service Schwinn bicycle shop which carried them for many years.The trains were in the back of the store and they had a huge wall display behind the register of the latest greatest Lionel trains. As downtown Albany went into decline they opened a second shop out in Colonie, NY and that shop sold bikes only. Outside of the Marx train set I received as a one year old at Christmas, I received my first Lionel train a Boston and Maine GP 9 2346 from there which I still have and then my grandfather kept adding on and we built an 18 x 26 RR in his basement.
By the time I moved to the capital district, Klarsfield had become a bicycle shop (only). I have a couple of NOS roller pickup trucks in plastic bags with header cards (to hang on pegboard) marked for Klarsfield.
Just figured I'd share an image unearthed of the interior display in Klarsfeld's:
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I remember only going there twice with my dad, once to drop off my 726 Berkshire for repair and once to pick it up. It was probably in the late 1940's in the pre- NYS Thruway (I90) era and Albany was over an hour drive away. I still recall that great wall of trains.
I moved to the capital district in 1971 and Klarsfeld's was my favorite bike shop for years before I learned of its history with Lionel trains.
It was when I came across a Lionel catalog with the name stamped on the cover that I became aware that it was once much more than just a bike shop.
Back in the 80s, one of the guys in our local train club came across an old Klarsfeld's sales book with names and purchase references going back for years and years. He actually tried to track down the buyers of some big ticket items from the early years in hopes of scoring some good buys from relatives!!! Never heard of any resounding successes! 
Jim
