Yesterday, I had a table at the Columbia-Greene Train show near Hudson in upstate New York.
Toward the end of the show, a gentleman stopped by and asked if he could look at a 1954 copy of Toy Trains magazine I had on the table. As he looked through the old ads, we talked about all the great train shops that New York City once had.
Then, he says, "You know I worked at Julie's for a while when I was in high school." Julie's was a shop located near the old Metropolitan Insurance Building at Madison Square Park, not far from Madison Hardware, the Lionel showroom, and the Gilbert Hall of Science.
I told him that my father bought my first Lionel set, a 1951 Berkshire set, at Julie's for Christmas that year.
Then, he says, "You know, I worked there from 1950 to about 1954 while I was in high school. I manned the register weekday evenings during the month before Christmas. If your father stopped on his way home from work during the Christmas season (which I'm sure he did!!!), I was probably the one who rang up his purchase at the register."
Unbelievable... I might have met the man who sold us my first Lionel train!!!
Looking at my table, he commented that I must have enjoyed that train, seeing where it led me in the hobby. 
He had some great stories about his time at Julie's. Sometimes, he was the one they would send to Madison Hardware when they needed a hard-to-find part for a customer repair. They always told him to walk in the opposite direction when leaving Madison and go around the block before returning to Julie's. You can imagine what would have happened if the gruff Madison Hardware guys found out he was working for a local competitor!!!
Jim
