About Us

Check out Hat Club's MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/hat_club.

Hat Club is the ORIGINAL membership based store of its type. Its first store opened in 1992, filling a small space previously used as a janitor’s closet in a Mesa, Arizona shopping mall! Hat Club is a young dynamic company originally founded by NBA star and veteran, Danny Ainge.

Hat Club stores are comprised of a vibrant mix of branded and licensed hats that project an athletic and cutting edge image that caters not only to the sports fan, but attracts a strong and diversified base of ages and lifestyles. The stores range in sizes from 300 – 800 square feet. Each location manages to carry over 1,500 different styles, with over 7,000 hats merchandised wall to wall and floor to ceiling. The extraordinary assortment of hats sets The Hat Club apart from all other stores. Hat Club boasts brand names such as New Era, Nike, Reebok, Under Armour as well as the newest addition of the Action Sports market with DC Shoes, Fox Racing, Hurley, Famous Stars and Straps, Burton, Etnies and Oakley, to name a few.

The Hat Club philosophy is simple and straightforward. Hat Club is committed to giving each customer excellent service which encourages and attracts loyalty. The keystone to this commitment is the Hat Club Membership. It is the Hat Club Membership that ensures the Hat Club stands apart from the competition.

The Membership encourages customer identification, loyal patrons, value, and additional Member recruitment to others who have not yet taken advantage of the benefits. It is Hat Club’s goal to create an addictive, repetitive behavior for purchasing hats. The majority of its sales are to Members, with more than 250,000 Members worldwide.

Hat Club has grown significantly since its inception. While playing for the Portland Trailblazers, Ainge opened several Northwest retail stores specializing in team-licensed merchandise. After being traded to the Phoenix Suns, Ainge formed the National Hat Club, opened his first hats-only store and began closing the Northwest shops. Through 1994 and 1995, the National Hat Club opened a total of seven stores in the Phoenix area and sales rose quickly.

Paul and Stephen Stachel, long-time sports merchandise retailers, first met Ainge when he stopped in their shop to talk hats. The Stachels were then the proprietors of the Arizona Sports Club, a two-store company also specializing in team-licensed merchandise. A bond was formed and in 1996 the two companies came together to create the Hat Club. Ainge has since sold his ownership in Hat Club and today the company is continued to be owned and operated by the Stachels. The rest, as they say, is history!