The clubhouse was founded 33 years ago. Lou torti was in a career as and industrial engineer when he began his journey. He began by selling sport jerseys and numbering them at the stitsville flea market as a weekend hobby. After a few years and developing a following for his great quality products and service he made a giant leap. He quit his job and went for it. When the first store began it started with cheep floor racks, fold out tables and wall and ceiling hooks. The product stood on its own and the business grew. After 5 years in business he had established the clubhouse as a solid profitable business.

Then came the next real test, in the late 80's and early 90's others began to realise the potential of the licenced sports apparel business, and with it the first real competition the clubhouse ever faced. It was a good time when the competition came to the scene, the l.a. Raiders black and silver were a hot ticket as black was back. It was worn by gangs in l.a. And many others looking for a tough look. Then l.a. Kings signed wayne gretzky and went to the black and silver as well. Then the ottawa senators were awarded a franchise, also good news for anyone and everyone operating in the city of ottawa.

Times were good.
Then it happened...

The first hockey stoppage since the second world war, then to add salt to the wound a canadian recession and a baseball strike in the same year that the home favourite montreal expos were looking poised to make a run at the world series.

Sales dropped a punishing 47% . The clubhouse made cutbacks and most of every retailer that wasn’t in ottawa before the late 80's disappeared. It was a slow recovery as many sports fans were jaded. Baseball to this day has yet to return to its previous popularity in canada since the toronto bluejays won the world series.

Fast forward to 12 years ago. When chris torti who had been working for his father for about 7 years opens a second clubhouse location at the age of 24. With the first few years came some hard lessons and some difficult ones but once through them with the help of his father chris was beginning to develop the new store and to slowly introduce ideas that would soon change the face of the clubhouse. 5 years into the kanata location the store had begun to turn the corner as did chris as a businessman now at 29 yrs old.

Armed with a fresh new logo and vision to market the logo and name, chris began the next phase in the development of the company. The clubhouse now had a new major focus. Protecting the future of the clubhouse from sports industry blowups like player strikes. Thus began the clubhouse private label apparel. Pro twill hooded sweats were the trademark of the clubhouse through the late 90's and early years of the new millennium. This line of product was expanded over time when the focus on quality was recognised and customers became loyal to the value the product offered.


Now lets move to 2004 the last 2 years the clubhouse slowly positioned itself away from licenced apparel as much as possible sensing the impending disagreement between the nhl players and its owners. Sure enough it happened again. This time however the clubhouse was really ready. With its newly positioned product focus developed over the 2 years leading to the strike, the clubhouse was poised to take advantage rather than suffer the consequences of the hockey strike/lockout. Having established themselves as a premier cap retailer this focus along with an increased emphasis on the clubhouse label product not only allowed the clubhouse to coast through the hockey stoppage but to begin the next expansion of the company.unable to get into the coveted rideau centre mall chris opened an mru unit in the mall and was determined to prove to the mall the value the clubhouse could add and to be close on hand for any store openings. it was a difficult run as frequent break ins and rampant theft was very taxing. However after one full year on the mru and while hockey still looked like it may not come back for another full year the opportunity came. 2 locations opened and choosing the smaller but more prime location chris opened a third clubhouse location. During this time competition in the licenced apparel once again retreated. The rideau centre location opened in the summer of 2006 and with it a new stage for the clubhouse. 2 years later the rideau location has established itself in the market and the clubhouse is making moves again. Cchris has remade the clubhouse website and opened its doors in october 2007 for online shopping bringing the clubhouse to a broader market. Chris unsatisfied with the original location the kanata store began has decided to relocate to the largest retail shopping area in kanata. This took place in the summer of 2008. The store has expanded the current clubhouse format to more than double the size, and with it a new fifth format available to future franchises.... Yes franchises, throughout the growth process, chris has been creating detailed systems packages for each version of store to allow for future franchising to continue . That time is now.

Burlington.........

The clubhouse has been operating since 1979 and currently has three retail outlets in ottawa and one in burlington, ontario. in the past five years, the clubhouse has successfully transformed their retail locations to "specialty" brand and private label sports fashions, including the largest selection of caps, exclusive designed sweat shirts and t-shirts. These new product lines are exclusive to the clubhouse and the wide variety ensures our customers a unique look. In addition to these new and growing lines we are a longstanding retailer of licenced apparel. Selling and servicing of custom crested jerseys, and all other related licenced apparel for over 20 years. and yes, we sell caps.