Tip Top Atomic Shop

Milwaukee, United States

4.3

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 414-486-1951
Website:
www.tip-top-atomic.com
Address:
2343 S Kinnickinnic Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53207
Bay View
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.9 min80op
1 miy80
2.3 miAmtrak Ticket Counter
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Street
Bike Parking
Yes
By Appointment Only
No

Today

Today –
Local time (Milwaukee) 16:46 Monday, 30 June 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Wednesday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Thursday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Friday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Saturday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Description

Specialties

1940’s, 50’s, 60’s Vintage Clothing and Accessories. Mid-​Century Modern Furniture and Retro Kitsch Knick Knacks. Also carries Retro Lounge Shirts and new reproduction vintage aspired clothing for rockabilly guys, hotrodders, greasers, and pinup girls. Stop in and see what’s new.

History

Established in 2001.

Jim and I have always had a love for 50’s vintage clothing and furniture. There was only so much that could fit in our home. We took out a space in the Milwaukee Antique Center on Water street, however when that closed we had two booths full of stuff and now it had to be moved. We found this location at 2343 S. Kinnickinnic Ave, Milwaukee which was about the same square footage as our booths. It was a good fit back in 2001. We always thought about expanding, however we have seen so many other good friends vintage shops close up because of over expanding or bad economy. We also want to keep the items at cheap prices because we feel vintage was made to be worn and used not placed in a museum. We hope you find out store warm and inviting and when you stop in please say HI to us as we love to meet new friends.

Meet the Business Owner

Lisa D.

Business Owner

We are just a couple of rockabilly kids that decided to open a vintage clothing shop. Pop Culture Archilogists trying to save vintage items from going to the garbage dump.

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20 reviews of Tip Top Atomic Shop

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
This is perhaps my favorite vintage store. They have a relatively small but thoughtful and reasonably priced selection of vintage goods primarily from the midcentury era. No matter what time of year, I always end up trying on an armful of pieces. I actually purchased a 1950s plaid driving jacket there and shortly afterwards saw the same, if not very similar, jacket being worn by Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue Got Married. The staff are kind, informed, and helpful. It is worth a trip for anyone in the Milwaukee or Chicago area.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Okay, you have to go to Atomic. Get your rockabilly shirts, your bowling shirts and more right here. Check out the walls in the dressing rooms. ThIs place will make you smile. Not a huge selection but a great selection. Real vintage and some new stuff too. All of it is right on brand. Definitely making a return visit soon.
Place rating: 5
Milwaukee, WI
Southeastern Wisconsin’s destination for everything 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s! Whether you are redecorating, accessorizing, revamping a weekend wardrobe, preparing for a pageant or a costume party… You’ll find what you desire and outstanding, unmatched customer service at the Tip Top Atomic Shop! Congratulations on the Thirteenth Anniversary of Business!
Place rating: 5
McHenry, IL
A great like shop with a lot super items. I love this place and will return anytime i’m close
Place rating: 4
Des Moines, IA
Great vintage store! Fun lamps, great kitsch, fabulous clothes! Bought some atomic dinnerware I had never seen before and the owner gave me a deal for buying it all. Really enjoyed the décor and the sense of humor of the era captured in time. Will absolutely visit again!
Place rating: 4
Wauwatosa, WI
Fun little vintage shop in Bay View — Tip Top does sell some décor, but the stock appears to be mostly vintage clothing from the 50’s and 60’s. I saw some adorable Jackie Kennedy boucle coats and a ton of bowling shirts. Prices (especially on the vintage stuff) are quite reasonable.
There isn’t much in the way of furniture. but there are lots of smaller accessories like cocktail shakers, ashtrays and vintage drinkware. I’m pretty sure my grandma had most of this stuff in her house at one point.
Channeling your inner Don Draper? They have a great «briefcase» that holds some liquor bottles and cocktail making supplies. Looking to style it up like Mr. Furley from Three’s Company? You’ll have a choice of leisure suits. In short, there’s something for everyone here — including Elvis playing cards.
Place rating: 5
Washington, DC
We found this treasure in Bay View while visiting from the East Coast. If you love 1950s clothes, tiki, and beautiful house decorative items, you MUST stop here. Great prices and fantastic owner named Jim! We’ll be back!
Place rating: 5
Milwaukee, WI
Awesome clothes! Awesome stuff! If you like great 50’s,/50’s style gear, this is a place you should check out. Depending on how much stock is in the shop and how many customers are perusing, quarters can become a little cramped, but there’s always at least one great find hiding somewhere here.
I cannot stop in, without walking out with something. The owners were also incredibly helpful in aiding us in procuring some bowling shirts as promotional items for an upcoming theatre show we’re producing. Kinda in love with this place.
If this is your kind of thing, you’ll fall in love with it too.
Place rating: 4
Oakland Hills, Oakland, CA
really cute lounge and tiki stuff. lots of cool shirts for guys. Got some great earrings there. Friendly staff
Place rating: 5
Wauwatosa, WI
Ah, Tip Top, the coolest little store front in Bay View.
I started out buying a few little items here and there off of their eBay store back in the day. My 5 star review is based off of the superb customer service and attention to detail I got from Jim and Lisa, the owners. They even let me pick my item up in person, rather than having it shipped to my address, even though I bought it off of eBay. I always find something here, and you might say this is a ‘dangerous’ kind of place for me to be in.
Friendly and outgoing owners and a cool, ever-​evolving rotation of stock = pure awesome.
Place rating: 3
Milwaukee, WI
I was torn between giving them three stars and four stars, if it could have been three and a half, it would of been. Jim and Lisa (the owners) are amazingly funny and kind people and I love going to their shop. I do not like the size of the shop. It is very cramped and makes it difficult to be able to easily look around, especially if someone else is in the store. I feel like there was a lot more to offer a few years back than there is now. There were hardly any shoes the last time I looked the other day and the shirts were priced outrageously. I’d say stick to Dragonfly on Brady Street.
Place rating: 3
Chicago, IL
OK selection of vintage goods. It’s not awe inspiring, but it’s ok and there is alot of it. The vintage stuff is priced REALLY low, but the new stuff is kinda on the high side. Plus, who wears Lucky 13 anymore? I really tried to find something here that I wanted, partly because the lady behind the register kept asking people that were leaving the store empty handed «you didn’t see anything that caught your eye?». I was about to say that I didn’t, and then 3 atomic age glasses struck my fancy. Partly because it was the same design (but smaller size) than a glass I had at home that I bought in New Orleans. They were only $ 3 a piece!
Place rating: 4
Milwaukee, WI
Its swell!
Place rating: 4
Milwaukee, WI
Tiny little spot w/​great vintage + rockabilly inspired apparel and accessories.
Purses, shoes, dresses, sweaters, jewelry, home décor… and the staff is really nice, to boot!
In need of a vintage piece, a theme outfit, or if you’re looking for a cute, locally-​owned boutique that carries awesome stuff, check out Tip Top in Bay View! An MKE staple and a great little find on KK.
As Mike P. always says… unchain and support local!
Place rating: 5
Greendale, WI
Visited the store for the first time today and two things struck me the moment we walked in: 1. The awesome selection of vintage merchandise. 2. Friendly folks who were more than happy to help us find what we were looking for. We will be back often!
Place rating: 5
Austin, TX
Get all your vintage needs met here — and if they don’t have something you need, they know where to get it! Great prices, excellent selection, fun atmosphere, and wonderful staff. They really know what they’re doing and clearly love their work.
A close friend recently got married and she wanted us bridesmaids to get dresses that we would wear again; at least two of us found out dresses at Tip Top!
Place rating: 5
Studio City, CA
Jim is fantastic! I came in with SEVERAL items (an entire Honda Fit full!) and he took the time to go through the pieces even though he has a very defined rockabilly chic look. He gave me an incredibly fair price, was patient and sent me out the door happily with a piece of candy. I will go back if I have something to sell or am in the market for 40 – 60’s style merchandise.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
This is a cute little shop with very, very reasonable prices. Scored a vintage black and white plaid bolero jacket (from a MKE boutique) for 10 bucks that will look very Mad Men paired with some cropped cigarette pants, and a very Joan-​style early/​mid-​60s dress for I think $ 30 (yes, ok, no points for guessing what is one of my favorite shows). Some cute tiki and pin-​up stuff, old cocktail service sets, and costume jewelry. Definitely worth a look, a fun place to poke around and with a little digging you can find some great stuff.
The guy from Seattle sounds like a creep, just look at some/​most of his other reviews. He finds shop owners all over the country to be unfriendly and disagreeable (and what’s the common denominator in that equation, hmmmm?), and doesn’t seem happy with any place unless he can score something for less than 10 bucks and re-​sell it for a couple hundred. It feels weird to rant about a stranger, but I have a lot of friends who collect mid-​century modern out of love rather than desire to turn an obscene profit, and predatory opportunists like this guy are a scourge. Bah. I could never be a small retail owner, because I couldn’t resist telling people like this to just go bugger off.
Place rating: 1
Seattle, WA
We recently visited this tiny mod shop while on vacation In Milwaukee. Being seasoned collectors of mid century items from the west coast we wanted to check out what this mod shop had to offer after reading about it online and driving by it on previous visits to Milwaukee.
Needless to say we were unimpressed by this shop and it’s offerings. This tiny shop is smaller than an average bedroom. When we entered the shop we got a luke warm response from the owners who seemed more interested in scouting local rummage listings online that helping us customers.
We found the selection rather weak for quality mid century items with mostly racks of musty vintage clothes which included a few $ 36 bowling shirts that had visible holes in them. There was some low end kitsch on the walls and very minimal furniture in the shop.
The shop is simply too small and cannot hold enough merchandise. How do they make it? Where is all the good stuff? Even Atomic’s Ebay sales seem to stall in the $ 7-​$ 15 range. The Eames, Paul McCobb, Herman Miller pieces? I recommend getting a much larger shop and add more quality mod items to include home furnishings, lamps, art work and studio pottery and stay off the computer when customers are in the shop.
Yawn.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
Tip Top describes itself as a Rockabilly Vintage Clothing store, which is totally dead on. The tiny store is packed with plenty of bowling shirts, sexy sundresses, and pin-​up bustiers, both vintage and new. It also has lots of fun accessories like jewelry, drink sets, and Betty Page lunchboxes.