Our Story

Johnny Ruth is an independent fashion and gift boutique located on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in historic downtown St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador. Founded in 2005 by co-owners, Dave Hopley and Kim Winsor and born from a mutual passion to provide locally designed silk screened t-shirts and quirky and unique trinkets and gifts that couldn’t be found elsewhere in the city.

Since its inception, Johnny Ruth has grown from a small shop that sold t-shirts and unique finds into a thriving business. Today, we offer more than 300 locally made products, along with a carefully curated selection of fashion and accessories from Canadian, North American, and European designers. You'll also find a wide variety of gifts, housewares, jewelry, and cards.

In October 2024, we opened our second location at Terrace on the Square. This new boutique is a vibrant, fashion-focused space that showcases elevated style, statement pieces, and new collections. It offers a fresh shopping experience for those seeking standout fashion. Our original downtown location remains true to its roots, filled with our classic t-shirts, local treasures, unique fashion, and gifts for all ages.

We strive to offer an excellent work culture and place great value on sustainability and equity for all people and our earth, in every business decision we make. 

We’ve poured our lives into creating a welcoming space and have created programs to help our customers and the community and to give back whenever and however we can.

Our Community Initiatives enable us to support the community around us and help us be ambassadors of our beautiful province.

Our Styling Services, offered by our in-house JR Style Experts give our guests an exceptional experience in customer service. 

Our Effortless Gift Giving Program promises the frees up some time in your busy schedule ensuring you never miss any reason to celebrate!

Our JR Casuals line is our homage to our roots. These, NL artist designed, embroidered, and silk-screened T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and hoodies are adorned with our favourite NL images and sayings and make unique souvenirs and great gifts for anyone near or far. 

We sincerely hope you will take the time to visit us, get to know us, ask us questions and let us guide you as you navigate your own stories. 

At Johnny Ruth, we believe life is meant to be lived and we are here to help you do it best!

Be yourself. Have fun. Give back. Inspire others.