T-Shirt City was first opened for business in 1981 by a guy named Rudy who had traveled the world (or at least the east coast) operating a t-shirt concession in carnivals and fairs.  He came home to “roost” (our state bird is the RI Red Rooster) in Warwick, RI and opened T-Shirt City with his life savings (which wasn’t much at the ripe old age of 25).

Shortly after opening that first store we acquired the lease for the souvenir concession stand in Rocky Point Park, a Rhode Island amusement park in operation from 1847 to 1996.  I have to say – the memories from those days can’t be beat – we had 300 square feet of space and a crew of people you couldn’t top…in the beginning before the park opened full time for the summer we would take our stock from the store, load it up in Rudy’s station wagon and unload it 3 miles away at the park for the weekend business…it was a lot of work but also a lot of fun.

In 1986 we opened our first “mall” store in the Rhode Island Mall (used to be the Midland Mall) and kept going…at one point we were operating 6 locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including some seasonal gigs like the Big E – Eastern States Expo.  We changed locations and had different product lines in different stores…Anyway – over the last 26 years T-Shirt City has morphed into what it is today – One location – right near the airport in Warwick, RI – with a mix of product which can be categorized into four main groups – Custom T-Shirts, hence “T-Shirt City”, a Sports line which comes from our “T-Shirt City & Sports” stores, Gifts and Collectibles – from our “Land of Aahs” stores, and Souvenirs – which we have always carried in all of our stores since the days of Rocky Point – now “Ocean State Souvenirs”.  We have one major location for retail customers to come in and still get a custom shirt while they wait – we have a fantastic product line, a great staff and are now offering this product in our on-line store.  

We hope that you enjoy our on-line store as much as our local customers enjoy our physical store…and if you’re ever in the area, please stop in and say hi!

By the way, Rudy has moved on to other ventures – a little tired after 25 years in retail, and Karen (that’s me) has taken over the reigns (we like Rudy to think he had them all along)…I’ve been around since the beginning, sometimes in the forefront – sometimes the background, but a true T-Shirt City girl for life….

Karen Canis

PS:  If you have been in our store, have ever worked for us or just would like to share something with us, please email me:  kc@tshirtcityonline.com – I would like to include some comments, pictures, etc. in a future page on our site.

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