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I've been in all of them. The 45th street store was also down the block from Harvey Radio.
Before you laugh at EVERYTHING Lafayette put its name on, consider this. In the late 1950s, early 1960s, they offered a powerful stereo tube power amp and preamp (the one with a million knobs on it) that are collectors items today. I think they were available as kits too. In the 1980s they offered the same solid state recievers as Setton which had them manufactured in the Fisher plant in Japan except the Lafayette units were much cheaper. In the end they were practically giving them away and they were excellent units. They also offered speakers built with the Heil air motion tweeter at a very reasonable price. They offered many other brands and their own brand was often someone elses rebranded. Their usual brand name was "Criterion." They had a nice selection of telescopes and microscopes and many other scientific toys for hobbyists. The Syosset and Liberty Avenue stores were both wonderful places to hang out. Their catalogs were also very large and filled with all kinds of wonderful items and their sales people were surprisingly helpful I miss those stores. There's nothing else like it today.
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