Snapshot: Tip Top Helps 'Finish The Look'

Women in the Jewish communities of Boro Park and elsewhere many times face a difficulty in buying clothes:

Even in Jewish stores, hems and sleeves often are not quite long enough for the right tznius.

A key solution for them is to visit Tip Top on 13th  Avenue.

The shop has an array of add-ons for women to "finish the look, to make it fully tznius, " said Elimelech Klyman, Tip Top's founder.

His inventory includes many exclusive items, he said, including thousands of different colors and textures of materials to perfectly match the particular skirt, blouse, or dress.

Even more popular is Elimelech's extensive inventory of silver jewelry for women and girls.  There is "a tremendous amount "of earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets, and bangles, he said.

Tip Top's  shelves also are filled with an array of beauty supplies --- shampoos, brushes, combs, hats, and sheitel accessories including big, elegant boxes.

Elimelech, who had emigrated to Israel and then America from the Ukraine with his family as a boy, opened the first Tip Top in Monsey some 45 years ago. He then opened a shop in Williamsburg, and then, about nine years ago, opened the 13th Avenue store in Boro Park.

"I had always wanted to own my own business," Elimelech said. "The opportunity came in Monsey, and I took it."

Now, with the help of his wife, Rivka, selling women's  accessories and jewelry  has become "a passion," he said; he particularly enjoys traveling with Rivka  to France, Italy, and other locations to find the right items  for his stores.

It's  not a business that could fit into the current trend of digital retail. "The customer has to come in with her garment, and our sales ladies help her find the exact match," he said. "You can't  do that online."

His busiest times are when styles shift before winter and before summer.

Tip Top's clientele includes many women and girls from Monroe and Lakewood — "They ask me when am I going to open a Tip Top there."

His answer? 

"We'll see," he said.