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Small Business Focus: In Tip Top Shape After Four Generations

October 31, 2022 | 2:56 PM
in COLUMNS, NEWS
25
Photographs by Susanne Beck.

By Susanne Beck

When the phone picks up at Tip Top Shoes, 155 West 72nd Street (Columbus and Amsterdam), the options offered sound like those of a large family, not a retail operation.

“For Aaron…press 15; For Danny, press 11; For Lester, press 20; For Kerry, press 23; For Margo, press 24; For Randolph, press 25.”

At Tip Top, which calls itself “New York’s premier shoe store since 1940,” it’s both.

Lester Wasserman, 48, the current owner, is the fourth-generation shoe retailer in the family, still working side by side with his father, Danny, 78, who took over the shop on the Upper West Side from his own dad, Max, in 1980. Max learned the trade from his dad, the first in the family to own a shoe store in Europe.

It was Max, who emigrated to America in the 1950s, and who ultimately brought the family operation to the Upper West Side, buying the Tip Top business – and building – in 1964, 24 years after the shop’s founding.

Today, Danny and Lester are considered legends in the trade, true “Shoe Dogs,” the industry term for revered veterans who have “lived the business and made a lasting contribution.” Thanks to Danny’s “nose for the market,” the store has a reputation for identifying shoe trends before they take hold, and developing exceptional – and exceptionally valuable – partnerships with brands that would become well-known nationally and internationally. Among them: Birkenstock, Ecco, Mephisto, MBT, and Ugg.  In March 2021, Footwear Plus magazine called Danny “the shoe industry’s uber talent scout.”

As a fourth-generation leader, Lester has kept his eye firmly on upholding the family’s trademark exceptional customer service. “We have the world’s greatest salespeople,” he says. Most members of his floor crew have worked at Tip Top for more than 10 years, many “well north of 15,” he adds.

“They’re masters at what they do. Selling shoes sounds easy, but it is brutal. It’s super labor intensive. There’s a lot of up and downstairs. [W]e have 1,000 women’s styles, maybe 1,200 on the floor. Making the connection between that customer and that shoe isn’t easy.”

On a recent weekday, staff members were busy tending to more than a dozen customers: listening closely, making suggestions, and taking mental notes, while doing the shoe-store equivalent of the yoga required of all salespeople: bending down, leaning in, pointing and reaching toward the walls of product, before bouncing off to the back of the store and returning, balancing tall stacks of models, sizes, and colors. It’s exhausting just to behold.

Harold.
Harold Dominici.

30-year sales veteran, Harold Dominici, is one of the long timers. “Check me out on Yelp,” he says with a wink, as he moves swiftly from one customer to the next. “I’m a salsa dancer too!” he exclaims over his shoulder, still moving. After owning several shoe stores of his own in the Bronx in his 20’s, Harold moved to Tip Top and never looked back. “I get up early in the morning and run here because I love what I do,” he says from behind his sagging mask. Geena, who has been shopping at Tip Top since 1982, says, “When you have somebody who really knows what they’re doing, it makes a difference.”

Juan Diaz.

Juan Diaz is another long termer — 23 years. He had been a bank trainee after college. The money was decent, the career path clear, but the work was stultifying. It drove me crazy,” Juan recalls. He got a call from a former colleague who was working at a Thom McCann store downtown and urged him to come. He took the leap – and caught the bug. Several years later, he landed at Tip Top and never left. “It’s like the saying goes, ‘when you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life.’”

Lester remembers that the Upper West Side was “rough” when he first started on the floor during high school in the late 70s. “The neighborhood has changed so much over the last 30 years, and the shoe trade, too, as a result of the internet.” He says the store will also change a bit, with an upgrade planned for early 2023.

As for the next generation, Lester’s daughter, who is in high school, is currently getting her own shoes wet with some time on the sales floor. But there is no pressure. “My father never pushed me to do this,” Lester explains. Despite the 24/7 that come with running a family operation, he says he has no regrets. “I like the excitement. Every day is something different.”

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Anne
Anne
2 years ago

Harold is a total gem!!
And VERY good at selling me many more pairs of wonderful shoes and boots than I ever anticipated when I “just stop by”—he is REALLY nice and KNOWS what will fit perfectly!! I love tip top especially because of him!!!
Very high quality shoes and boots— treasure of UWS!

6
Reply
72RSD
72RSD
2 years ago

Thank you for highlighting this wonderful long-time business!

10
Reply
Steven Barall
Steven Barall
2 years ago

I love the store. I bought shoes from Harold just a couple of weeks ago. He’s a smart guy, he knows how to sell you shoes. The skill of the salesperson is dying out with the growth of direct online sales.

3
Reply
Ronald McKeen
Ronald McKeen
2 years ago

Great store. Great people.
Have been shopping there since 1968.
Congrats to all.
Keep it for another 4 (at least) generations.

5
Reply
Danny
Danny
2 years ago

Yeah UWS Family Businesses!
Great store, great family!
Danny
Town Shop

9
Reply
UWSer
UWSer
2 years ago
Reply to  Danny

Danny, I was just thinking that it would be great for WSR to do a profile of Town Shop, too, so I’m so happy to see you commenting here!

3
Reply
Ken
Ken
2 years ago
Reply to  UWSer

Do a search on this site: There are a couple of pieces that have been done already…

1
Reply
ruth
ruth
2 years ago

Melvin is the reason I return season after season. And his expertise is superior to any “expert”
on the UWS. He knows the foot and never pushes a sale.

11
Reply
Jacey
Jacey
2 years ago
Reply to  ruth

Kudos to Melvin who always help with problem feet and clearly explains the issues.

2
Reply
Ron Wasserman
Ron Wasserman
2 years ago

If Lester is only 48, he was a very precocious child, being in high school in the late 1970s when he was only 8.

4
Reply
Barbara Gary
Barbara Gary
2 years ago

Living in the neighborhood since 1974 I have always gone to TipTop! And Harold is my go to guy.
Always caring, thoughtful and correct in his suggestions. A pleasure to do business with even now when I come from Greece or Italy to shop with confidence at TipTop under Harold’s guidance.

1
Reply
Elisabeth Jakab
Elisabeth Jakab
2 years ago

Great store. Thank you for a lovely article.

2
Reply
Gina
Gina
2 years ago

For many years, beginning in the 80s, they were the rudest people on the planet. Once I was in my late 30s they finally treated me nicely.

2
Reply
Christine E
Christine E
2 years ago
Reply to  Gina

I’ve always had great service at Tip Top. Harry’s, not so much.

1
Reply
Erica
Erica
2 years ago

My young daughter had been having a hard time with shoes. Nothing seemed to fit right. I had brought her to other shoe stores and tried ordering different brands online…to no avail. Took her to Tip Top and the salesman there took one look at her foot and said, “she’s got a high in-step and slightly wide foot. Lemme show you a shoe that could work for her….” She’s still wearing those shoes confortably and they got a customer for life!

3
Reply
Christine E
Christine E
2 years ago
Reply to  Erica

Yes! I’ve had a Tip Top salesperson who was a former podiatrist. Not only do they know shoes but they also know feet.

1
Reply
Bobby M
Bobby M
2 years ago

A womderful store that epitomizes service, selection and value. Go to Tip Top and keep UWS family businesses strong!

2
Reply
Robin
Robin
2 years ago

What I most appreciate about Tip Top is their 7 day money-back return policy, unlike Harry’s on Broadway, which does not offer money back. For this reason, I shop at Tip Top and not Harry’s.

1
Reply
Susan
Susan
2 years ago

I have been shopping at Tip Top for many years. There is no better salesman than
Melvin! He understands “feet” better than anyone else, and just knows what’s the
best fit for you. He will bring out everything he knows will fit you properly, and has a great deal of patients. I would recommend him to anyone who has foot problems like
me……and he does it with a smile!!!

3
Reply
Ellen Shell
Ellen Shell
2 years ago

So pleased my suggestion to start a column highlighting the neighborhood gems who continue to serve our neighborhood is being tried out. So wonderful to read about them before they show up in other well known column that is always a bit sad. I bet there are lessons they could teach some of the new brick and mortars who are trying to make a go. Small businesses are the soul of the neighborhood.

Thank you WSR.

4
Reply
Fred Wasserspring
Fred Wasserspring
2 years ago

I loved the store so much I let Lester marry our daughter!

4
Reply
Gene
Gene
2 years ago

Tip Top Shoes is a leader in its class. The customer service is 10 out of ten. The store is unique in discovering trends before it is a trend. The relationship between store and customer goes beyond transactional. Tip Top shoes is a NYC landmark.

1
Reply
Tom
Tom
2 years ago

Being a rep in the industry for over 40 years, I’ve heard of Tip Top from other reps I’d worked with and other Retailers as well. Just hearing about them but never being there, I imagined them being quite the business and clearly it is. Great article and well deserved recognition! Keep it up Tip Top, you’re one of the pieces that keeps the industry GREAT!

1
Reply
Patricia Caldwell
Patricia Caldwell
2 years ago

Having sold shoes for an owner operator in Boston, I love reading stories like this. I must try to go there when I am in the city…

1
Reply
DrM
DrM
2 years ago

Sorry to be boring and repetitive but Tip Top is awesome. Shopping there is akin to being transported back in time when product quality and customer service were the primary deciding factors for choosing where to buy anything. Volumes of cheap crappola just weren’t as pervasive. Tip Top exemplifies all the possible attributes of shopping local small businesses. They make me feel sorry for the vast majority of modern America who have only name-brand filled shopping malls and the internet at their disposal.

2
Reply

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