About Us

Stroked Ego was conceived in the fall of 2009 by the company’s founders, Kevin Martin and Mike Mainville. Wanting to bring more variety to the Ottawa retail sector, they began to shop for potential brands and product lines. The results became the groundwork for the concept of the one-stop shop: a store that provides fashion accessories, personal grooming and fashionable clothing that is geared towards the modern man.
 

“...YOU WANT TO STROKE THEIR EGO”

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The name was coined at a family gathering. Describing the direction of the concept, someone paraphrased the intentions of the store by expressing “...you want to stroke their ego”. The concept now had its second dimension.


On May 17, 2010, after 6 months of planning and implementing, the vision was achieved and the doors opened at the original location. After 5 years, it was decided to relocate.  Now the Vision has been re-imagined at our new location just up the street at 131 Bank Street.

If you are looking for the best in denim driven clothing, swimwear, skin care & wet shaving products, underwear and fashion accessories, Stroked Ego is the destination.

Stroked Ego carries a large assortment of men’s underwear (Andrew Christian, Pump!, Coyote Jocks, and others). The store also has good quality & reasonably priced clothing by Blend, Casual Friday, Point Zero, Mavi and more. Since the beginning we have been well known for our sock selection and carry hundreds of socks by Good Luck, Unsimply Stitched, Uptown Sox, Gumball Poodle, and more. Additionally, to help you look and feel great we have a wide variety of skin care and shaving products from Jack Black, Thentix, Bluebeards, Henri et Victoria and more. 

In July 2023, the opportunity arose for Stroked Ego to expand. We decided to “elevate” ourselves by taking possession of the floor right above the store. The third floor has become EGO Space. This venue rental space provides a community space, at reasonable costs, for folks to host a wide variety of events. We’ve been happy to host everything from birthday parties for both young and not-so-young, queer group fundraisers, baby showers, vintage clothing pop-ups and much more.